Digimon Tamers - All For One
by Fergus Flamacron
Summary: Sequel to 'Secret of the 327th'. It's been a year since Aayla Secura went with her friends to the world of the Tamers. Aside from growing concerns about Digimon from the general public now the Tamers are getting older, all seems well. But could there be an new threat looming on the horizon? Or rather, an old threat? One buried for years... inside Cyberdramon.
1. The King's Fear

Hey folks. I'm finally back with a sequel to Secret of the 327th, one that I've been long waiting for myself. As you can probably tell right away if you've read the prequel to this, this chapter is nowhere near as long as most SOT3 chapters are. But that's fine. From now on, chapters will be only as long as they need to be. As will the stories. And I hope that this story will be the first of many to kick off this franchise! :)

* * *

 **CHAPTER 1:- THE KING'S FEAR**

"Ryo, are you just going to lounge around up there all day? Or are you going to get down here and let the twins watch me thrash you?"

Ryo Akiyama chuckled to himself as he rolled onto his side atop the wall he was perched on and propped his head up on one hand. "Thrash me, huh?" he gave the speaker - Rika - a broad grin. "Well, I suppose there is a first time for everything."

Rika rolled her eyes, setting down another card on the grass in front of Ai and Mako. The former Digimon Queen was in the middle of teaching the two youngest Tamers a few tricks and combinations with the Modify cards, at the request of the twins themselves. Of course, nobody could say that they weren't excellent Tamers in their own right - they had already proven that in the final battle against GranDracmon. But outside of biomerging with their partner, they were easily still the least experienced, and they were very much determined to change that.

The whole group was there in Rika's front garden. Ten Tamers, ten Digimon and a single Rutian Twi'lek all scattered about and either doing homework, talking or just attempting to enjoy life. They were often here these days. It was one of the few places they could go where they got any real privacy, as the local police force had made it a punishable offence for anyone to set foot on Rika Nonaka's property without an invitation from a Tamer or Rika's family. Everywhere else they went they went they attracted quite a crowd.

Unless they were under Renamon's perception filter, but the yellow fox couldn't exactly cover for the entire group at all times. And here, at least, she didn't have to.

It was a relatively normal scene. Kazu, Takato and Kenta having a heated debate about which of the Digimon from the TV show was the coolest. Henry, on his laptop, checking out the rumours of a potential movie about the exploits of the Tamers. Suzie, lightly brushing Renamon's tail while the kitsune watched her mate Terriermon scarf down his weight in rice bowls while Guilmon ate twice his own weight in bread. Guardromon, apologising to Rumiko for accidentally breaking another garden ornament. Elecmon, pretending to snooze in the sun while Impmon chased Calumon around the yard, yelling at him for drawing random patterns in felt-tip pen all over Behemoth.

But what mostly held Ryo's attention was the sparring match going on up on the roof.

Cybedramon's teeth bared back in a determined snarl as he swept across the tiles with a broad sweep of the Lobomon light sword in his hand. His opponent, Aayla, sprang nimbly up and over the dragon Digimon, planting her feet on his shoulders and leaping to the far end of the roof. But Cyberdramon twisted himself around in a split second and came back again, forcing Aayla to drop almost to her stomach to avoid one blow and then push up with a little burst of the Force to leap over another coming in from the other side. She struck downwards with her lightsabers, power setting lowered down to training mode, but one of Cyberdramon's swords was there to block the attack and heave Aayla up into the air.

Aayla turned the throw into a dive and rolled onto her feet, throwing a lightsaber over one shoulder to parry Cyberdramon's strike at her back. Her body twisted nimbly to duck under Cyberdramon's guard, and she struck at his midriff, but Cyberdramon threw himself backwards so the tip of Aayla's blade just missed nicking his armour. He roared and tossed one of the swords aside to grip the other with two hands, charging in to thrust forwards in three rapid jabs. Aayla blocked the first two and dodged the third, but Cyberdramon rammed her with his shoulder to knock her back across the roof and spun in a wide circle to swing the sword hard enough to make the air thrum.

Ryo sat up, momentarily alarmed at the aggressive move, but Aayla flipped herself into a spectacular cartwheel that carried her neatly over the blow, the sword narrowly missing the tips of her lekku as she passed above it upside down. She then crossed her blades into an X to catch the downward swing that Cyberdramon sent crashing toward, their weapons interlocking above their heads.

"Very good, Cyberdramon," she said with a light smile. "Sometimes two weapons is not better than one. Two certainly provides more opportunities to strike, but it also means that your parries are most likely going to be weaker and…"

She got no further because quite suddenly Cyberdramon roared, and with lightning speed one of his hands lashed out to seize the Twi'lek by her throat.

"Ahh! Cyberdramon, stop!" Ryo yelled and shot to his feet, his heart surging into his throat as Aayla was lifted clean off her feet, Cyberdramon's vicious claws puncturing her skin. "What do you think you're…?"

SNAP!

Ryo's entire body seemed to seize functioning as Cyberdramon flexed his fingers and instantly crushed Aayla's windpipe and shattered every bone in Aayla's neck. He could only gape in complete and utter horror as his partner tossed the lifeless alien from the roof where she landed with a splash face-down in the pond!

Instantly cries of anguish and grief filled the air, but Ryo barely heard them. Cyberdramon leapt to the edge of the roof, his claws glowing as he sliced the air and left greenish trails in the fabric of reality before taking on a bright blue light as he aimed at his amassed friends.

 **"DESOLATION CLAW!"**

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Ryo's cry tore from his voice box as destructive energy rained continuously down upon the entire party, filling the garden from wall to wall like a meteor shower. Instantly the grass was lit aflame; data particles filled the air as the Digimon exploded into data - the light so intense that Ryo was only able to make out the bigger forms of Renamon, Guilmon and Guardromon before they disintegrated. While their Tamers dropped to the grass like flies, their bodies rent with bloody gashes and some of their limbs completely blown off!

"STOP IT! STOP IT, CYBERDRAMON!" Ryo shrieked, but his body felt completely paralysed as near everyone he knew and loved was slaughtered before him. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? THOSE ARE OUR FRIENDS!"

"Friends?" Cyberdramon said, only it was not Cyberdramon's voice. It was still a growling rasp, but a much deeper one, and instead of bestial savagery it was filled with a crazed malice. And as Ryo watched, a strange aura seemed to fill the air above Cyberdramon. A dark shape with multiple arms, a huge head with a large horn sprouting up from the nose and a pair of heavy-duty cannons perched high on its back.

"You are the only friend that I need, Ryo. And I am the only partner you need."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Ryo crashed to the floor of his bedroom, very nearly hitting his head on the bedside table but wide awake even before he'd finished falling. Instantly he was shoving himself to his feet and staring around wildly, taking several seconds to realise where he even was.

In his room… not on Rika's wall…

Night…

In his pyjamas…

A dream… just a dream…

Nothing bad had happened. There had been no strange voice coming from Cyberdramon's mouth. No sudden, destructive rampage. Aayla was all right. The rest of his friends were all still alive.

Ryo collapsed back onto his bed, burying his face in his hands. It might have been a nightmare, but he could still recall every moment of it. Every inch of him was covered in a cold sweat and was also shaking.

And, moments later, his mother was opening his door.

"Ryo, are you okay?" she asked softly.

Ryo didn't answer. He just sat there, trying to use his hands like a paper bag to control the panic attack threatening to overwhelm him.

"I suppose that was a silly question," his mother said, gently coming into the room and sitting down beside him on the bed. She didn't try to hug him - she just wanted to be a comforting presence. "Was it a new one? Or the same one again?"

"…Same…" Ryo croaked. If he said any more, he worried that he might throw up. Because this wasn't the first time that he'd had that dream. It had been happening for several months now. Not every night but fairly regularly. Usually at least once every two weeks or so. The details were a little different each time. Sometimes his parents were there at the same time in the dream. Sometimes the parents of the others were there. But the result was the same - Cyberdramon suddenly going berserk and butchering everyone that he held dear to him.

And that voice. That same voice.

"You still don't feel up to telling me what it is?" his mother asked.

Ryo shook his head.

"Well, if you ever want to…"

"He'll tell us when he's ready," said Ryo's father, who was now leaning against the doorframe, his face set in stern stone. "But you know son; it's not exactly healthy to keep things bottled up. If these dreams keep bothering you, you should at least tell somebody about it. If not us, then someone."

Ryo still said nothing, but he did lean up against his mother and allowed her to pull an arm around his shoulders and hold him tight. The two of them just sat there together for over ten minutes, Ryo silently taking comfort from his mother's presence until finally, he was able to say, "Thanks, Mum… I'm okay now."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah… Yeah, I'm good."

"Your father's right you know. If you ever feel ready to talk, we will be willing to listen. Not just about these dreams, about anything. You do know that, right?"

Ryo smiled lightly and nodded. "Yeah, Mum, I know."

His mother left, but his father remained a few moments. Just long enough for him to say, "You really should tell us when things are troubling you, Ryo. Considering how many friends you have, you try to do things solo far too often."

After he'd gone, Ryo immediately moved to the window to pull it open and look up toward the roof. There was Cyberdramon, standing and staring out into the middle distance and waiting for a Digimon to bio-emerge the way he always did at night while in this form. He quickly noticed Ryo's presence and looked down.

"Is there a problem?" he growled.

"Nah, just… making sure you were still there," Ryo said. "Stay vigilant, buddy."

He pulled back in, rubbing at his temples as he crawled back into bed. But he already knew he wouldn't sleep again that night.

Since Ryo and Cyberdramon had become partners, Ryo's very greatest fear had always been that his Digimon would harm innocent people or those closest to him. How could it not be, given what Cyberdramon really was? The nagging worry had always been there in the back of his mind. But he had never allowed it to get to him, to consume him. He'd never get anything done if he let that happen, so instead, he had just handled it. He did what was necessary to keep Cyberdramon in line and then otherwise just lived his life normally. More than that, he had great friends, great fun… everything he could wish for.

So what was different now? Why was he having the nightmares now, when there'd been no sign of… him… for years? Cyberdramon was calmer these days than he'd ever been. His regular sparring sessions with Aayla gave him an outlet for his aggression without having to resort to actual bloodshed.

And yet the dreams persisted.

"It'll never happen," he muttered to himself. "Millenniummon is gone. His Dark Spores are destroyed. Ken is free… He might as well not exist anymore."

And yet he was still alive. Somewhere inside Cyberdramon, the deadliest Digimon he'd ever known still lived.

And much like one particular Myotismon, he had a nasty habit of coming back.

* * *

See, shorter. But at the end of the day, I think this will help me to continue creating new content while relieving much pressure on me. I hope that you guys enjoy the upcoming adventure!


	2. The Warning

**CHAPTER 2:- THE WARNING**

* * *

"I'm telling you, dude, it'll never happen," Kazu was laughing when Ryo walked through the front gate to Rika's garden after school the following day. "There's no way that you're going to get a girlfriend before I do. Not unless pigs suddenly start flying, and by that I mean non-Digimon pigs."

"Why are you so sure that girls like you so much more anyway?" Kenta objected.

"Well, for one thing, I don't turn red and become unable to get out a single word whenever a cute girl comes my way," Kazu snorted.

"I do not get that bad. And besides, I'm a humble guy. Girls prefer humility to pure ego, like you have."

"That's not exactly correct, Kenta," Jeri laughed. "It's true for a lot of girls but not all. Everyone has different tastes. But don't you fret, you'll find the right girl for you out there somewhere. You both will."

"Oh, I'm not saying that Kenta won't ever get a girlfriend," Kazu pointed out. "I'm just saying that I'll have one before him. I got my Digimon before he did after all."

"Digimon and girls are entirely different things!"

Ryo couldn't keep himself from chuckling a little. Those two could find literally any subject to argue about, but that was one that had been springing up more regularly than before. Most of the Tamers were around sixteen now, and girls were starting to become much more prominent in Kazu and Kenta's minds.

Sometimes Ryo wondered whether he should try finding a girlfriend too. But he wasn't sure most girls would want to hang around Cyberdramon - most girls were terrified of him. Though to be fair, so were most guys.

And besides, he had other things on his mind. He hadn't been able to blot out that dream - it had been weighing on his mind all through school. He felt physically ill whenever the sound of Aayla's neck snapping echoed through his mind. Which was why he was elated simply to see her now, alive and well and sitting cross-legged on the little bridge that ran over Rika's pond, attempting to meditate while many of the Digimon ran in circles around her, playing tag.

"Hey, Ryo, why don't you settle this?" Kenta suddenly arrested Ryo's attention as he joined the group. "Who do you think's going to get a girlfriend first, me or Kazu?"

"Oh sure, because Ryo Akiyama is the absolute authority on the ladies," Rika snorted. The redhead was sitting against a tree-trunk with Henry right by her side. "What is he the King of Love as well as the so-called Digimon King?"

"Hey, Ryo could have any girl that he wanted," Kazu immediately leapt to Ryo's defence unasked. "All he'd have to do was ask, and they'd probably swoon at the chance."

"Well, I hope they wouldn't," Ryo laughed, rubbing the back of his head. Despite the dream still gnawing away at the back of his brain, he was still able to put on his usual charming self. "Girls that swoon at something like that aren't my type. But for what it's worth you two, I couldn't possibly guess as to which of you will get a girl first. You're both great catches if you ask me."

"You hear that Kenta, Ryo thinks we're catches! I bet we could both get a girlfriend by tomorrow if we asked around at school!"

"If Ryo believes in us it's assured. He said I'd find my Digimon and I did, so he has to be right this time too."

"So, at what point are those two officially too old for their little fanboy crush on Ryo?" Rika asked.

"For those two?" Henry snickered. "They'll never be too old. It's just as well Tai Kamiya isn't a real person. They'd never leave him alone."

"Neither would I," Takato coughed a little sheepishly, to much laughter.

"Well anyway, now that Ryo's here," Jeri said, turning to the mildly embarrassed Gogglehead. "Why was it so important that we all be here today, Takato?"

"Yeah, TeamFourStar posted a brand new episode of Dragonball Z Abridged today," Terriermon grinned. "If we could hurry this up so I can go watch that it would be great."

"Terriermon…"

"What? I want to see if Krillin gets owned again!"

"To be honest I'm not really sure why we're here," Takato said before Henry could chide his partner any further. "But Yamaki came into the bakery the other day and asked me to tell everyone to come. Whatever he wants to say to us, it sounded important."

That sobered everyone up rather quickly. Yamaki rarely contacted the Tamers by e-mail or any other form of electronic communication when he wanted them to talk to them. It was too easy for his superiors in the government to monitor those, and he always tried to give the Tamers as much freedom from their oversight as he possibly could. But when he summoned a meeting like this, it was usually a pretty big deal.

"He should be here soon," Takato said. "So I guess we'll just have to hang around until he does."

"Why do I suddenly have a sense of extreme foreboding?" Henry muttered.

"Just typical," Impmon rolled his eyes. "And there was me thinking we might have a whole week without something coming up. Two days in and that ship's already sunk."

The group lulled into silence, each contemplating what Yamaki might want with them and feeling mixed amounts of anxiety nibbling at their stomachs. Whatever it was, it was almost certainly government business.

"Hey, come on guys," Ryo eventually broke the silence. "Let's not get ourselves down when we haven't even heard the news yet. You know what I'm in the mood for right now?"

"A haircut?" Terriermon quipped. "Cos you're starting to need one."

"Ahaha, no not that. Ice cream. I saw a van a couple of roads away while I was on my way here. I could head out and grab a few and be back before Yamaki gets here if anyone else wants one. My treat."

"Me! Mememememe!" Suzie immediately cried, jumping up and waving her arms excitedly. "I want strawberry! Lots of strawberry!"

"Do they have any peanut butter ice cream?" Guilmon perked up. "I had some of that once at that ice cream place… what was it called, Basket Robbers?"

"Baskin Robbin's, Guilmon," Takato snorted. "But I don't think a van will have peanut butter flavour. Probably just chocolate, strawberry and vanilla."

"Oh, okay, can I have chocolate then. The whole tub?"

"I'll get you a cone, Guilmon," snorted Ryo. "Just like everyone else."

"Aaaw, but I'm hungry."

* * *

Once he'd received several orders from humans and Digimon alike, Ryo headed out the quick way by hitching a ride on Cyberdramon's back. The poor vendor nearly had the bejesus scared out of him when the large Dragonoid landed right in front of his window, but he was just about able to serve seven separate cones.

And that was the point Ryo realised he hadn't really thought this through.

"Hmm… how am I supposed to get this many ice creams back myself?" he muttered. Cyberdramon could probably carry a few, but he would also likely crush them in his iron grip. Or he could outright eat them.

"Do you need any help?"

Ryo turned in surprise at the sound of the voice a few feet behind him and found himself staring into the grey eyes of a girl about his age. A girl with shoulder-length blonde hair and wearing a short black dress and a silver cross hanging from her neck.

It took Ryo several seconds to recognise her.

"Oh wait… you're Alice, aren't you?" he blinked. "Alice McCoy, Dolphin's grand-daughter."

Alice dipped her head slowly. "That's me," she said. "You look like you could use a hand with those."

"Well, if you're offering I won't say no," Ryo grinned lopsidedly, as Alice stepped forward to take several of the ice creams. "But whoa, hold on… where have you been? Nobody has seen you since the whole incident with Ogudomon several years ago. You popped out of nowhere to give us a ridiculous message from Ebonwumon, and then you just vanished. Without a single trace."

Alice turned to fix her eye on Ryo with a surprising intensity. "You didn't tell my grandfather about that, did you?"

"No, no, of course not. You asked us not to so we didn't. Even though we could never understand it. You know your grandfather still thinks you're dead, right?"

Alice looked down at the ground, a brief flash of guilt passing across her face. "I know," she whispered.

"So why don't you go back to him? To the rest of your family?"

"…It wouldn't do any good."

"What? But it must be over ten years since you've seen or spoken to them! So… why? Where do you even live?"

Alice's lips quirked into a vague smile that seemed to send little tickling sensations creeping down Ryo's spine. "Around," she whispered. "I make my way. And I… exist… as best as I can."

"Are you crashing at someone else's place?" Ryo asked. "A friend's maybe? Please tell me you aren't living in a dumpster somewhere…"

"How's Cyberdramon been these days?"

Ryo blinked, thrown by the sudden change in topic. "Er… fine… why?"

"His aggression is in check? He's not been showing any signs of wanting to murder innocents?"

"What? No, of course not. Cyberdramon wouldn't murder people! He wants to battle strong opponents; he's not a cold-blooded killer."

"Perhaps Monodramon wouldn't," Alice raised her brow. "But what of his… other side?"

Suddenly Ryo felt colder than the ice cream in his hands. As if he'd suddenly been teleported to the Antarctic and was standing in the middle of a frozen tundra. His jaw was practically hanging loose from the rest of his skull.

There was absolutely no confusing the meaning behind Alice's words.

But how? How could she possibly know? Nobody knew. Not even Ryo's parents knew!

"What…?" he coughed, struggling to process his shock. "What do you… how…?"

Now Alice smiled again, but this time there was pity in her eyes. "Your tale is truly a tragic one, Ryo Akiyama. But I'm sure you don't need me to warn you to keep an eye on him. There is a reason you've had those nightmares lately. It's not just paranoia. You know something is wrong, subconsciously if not consciously. And if Millenniummon breaks free… a forced DNA Digivolution might not work to seal him again."

"I… I don't…"

"Enjoy your ice cream."

Ryo started when he realised that they'd already gotten back to Rika's house. He'd barely even noticed that they'd started walking away from the ice cream van. Alice turned and passed the cones in her hands to Cyberdramon before walking away without another word. Ryo stood rooted to the spot, knowing in the back of his mind that he should probably chase after her and demand to know what she was talking about and how she knew so much. But his mind was too overwhelmed to consider it properly until after she was already gone.

"Cyberdramon… what was that about?" he asked suddenly. "Has she been following me?"

"Sometimes," Cyberdramon rasped in response, trickles of ice cream melting over his claws. "I see her across the street at night frequently, watching your window. Watching me."

"How come you never said anything!?"

"She is not a threat. She is an ally. It did not seem necessary."

"Of course, it's important! She's stalking me! I have a stalker, who knows way, way more than she should! If you see her again, you have to let me know straight away, alright?"

"Fine."

"Good…" Ryo took a deep breath, shaken by such a strange encounter. "Right… well… let's get these to the others before they melt any more."

"Ryo," Cyberdramon turned his masked face upon his Tamer. "Is she right? Could he rise again?"

Ryo was silent for several moments - he didn't even want to think about the possibility that she might be right.

"Do you feel anything?" he asked, slowly. "Do you feel any different at all? Can you… sense his presence?"

"I have felt nothing. But I cannot feel my stomach either, and yet it is there. Feeling nothing proves nothing."

Ryo closed his eyes - trust Cyberdramon to be blunt. But he knew his Digimon was right. And yet short of locking Cyberdramon away entirely, if Millenniummon really was on the cusp of rising again, what could they possibly do to prevent it?

And was there even a reason to worry? Okay, Alice knew quite a lot but was her warning a definite sign that something was going to go down soon? Or just that it might? Because if it was the latter, well that had always been the case. They'd both known right from the beginning that it could happen again.

All they could do was hope it never would.


	3. The Public Eye

**CHAPTER 3:- THE PUBLIC EYE**

* * *

"So what is the problem, Yamaki?" Aayla asked, wearing Terriermon like a hat as she clambered back to her feet from where she'd been meditating.

"Problem? What makes you think there's a problem?" Yamaki raised a brow. He had arrived through the front gates with both Riley and Tally in tow a couple of minutes ago, along with an entire SWAT team's worth of HYPNOS agents who fanned out around the border of the Nonaka household to keep any potential eavesdroppers at bay. Not that there was anything unusual about that - it was rare for Yamaki to go anywhere without back-up these days.

"Because you have a very tight expression. And because I can sense something weighing on your mind."

"Right, right, of course. I always find myself forgetting just how perspective a Jedi can be."

"It would probably help in that regard if I weren't the only Jedi you'd ever met," Aayla chuckled. Her integration into human society over the past year had gone very well indeed. In fact, she even had a job of sorts. She couldn't really call it a job since she didn't get paid for it, but then again she refused payment in the first place, claiming the money would be better spent on people who had actually been born and raised in this world. Plus the Nonakas had more than enough money to support Aayla at their house since she was really only an extra mouth to feed and little else.

That job was working with the police force, helping to clean the streets of Shinjuku of small-time criminals from shoplifters to car thieves. She had even walked straight into a bank filled with heavily armed robbers and detained every one of them without receiving a scratch, her lightsabers making short work of their bullets and guns both. And because she worked alongside the police, she was not considered a vigilante.

Whenever she wasn't on the job, she was with the Digimon. Or with the parents of the Tamers - she had been remarkably well received by all of them considering she was the only responsible adult that the Tamers had no problem having around all the time.

"Come on, Shades, don't keep us in suspense," Terriermon chirped up from atop Aayla's head. "What, are more of your government supervisors being pains in the ass again?"

Yamaki immediately pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"Oh god, it's more of your government supervisors being pains in the ass again."

"Something like that. I'm sure that some of you have wondered exactly how long it would take before this started to happen… but many leading politicians have become increasingly concerned with the public's perception of you Tamers, and your Digimon."

"What are you talking about, the public loves us," Kazu protested. "Just the other day I had some girl I'd never met come up to me and ask if she could get a picture of the two of us together riding Guardromon."

"Yeah, and the Guilmon bread at the bakery is the most popular thing we sell by like… a mile," Takato agreed. "People love our Digimon now."

"Some people," Yamaki said darkly. "And certainly they're popular with children and other people around your age. But they're much less so with the older generation."

"He's right," Henry sighed. "It's all over the internet if you go to the right places. There's a lot of people out there who still think Digimon are a serious threat and all of them should be eliminated. And haven't you noticed that Shinjuku Park's become a lot less busy these days? People know we hang out there a lot."

"They don't like us?" Guilmon's jagged ears drooped flat against his head. "But why? What did we do wrong?"

"Hey, it's nothing you did, buddy. These are all people who've never met you. Who cares what they think?" Takato said firmly.

"I care," Yamaki said. "And you should too. Because if something isn't done, it could potentially get much worse."

"Worse?" Jeri swallowed nervously. "Worse how? What do you mean?"

Riley stepped up beside her boss-slash-boyfriend to give the assembled teenagers and small monsters a sad smile. "Look, HYPNOS has continuously been working to ensure that you all got to live your childhoods as any regular group of kids can. We're always there at the fore, assuring people that you're all in our care and we'll make sure that nothing happens to you. For the most part, it's worked. But now things are changing."

"Changing how?" Kenta asked.

"It's because you're getting older," Aayla said, spotting immediately what Riley and Yamaki were both implying. "Most of you are sixteen now, or even older. It'll only be a couple of years until most of you are classified as adults."

"Exactly," Yamaki nodded. "Most people who dislike you Tamers and your Digimon have tolerated you precisely because you are children. There are many reasons for that, but mostly it's because most people just don't see children as threats to society, even when they're friends with Digital Monsters. And if you were threats to society, they believe that we - the government - are capable of keeping you in check. But a group of adults with powerful monsters at their side? Well, that's an entirely different kettle of fish."

"And you don't even have to be adults for mistrust to begin. Let's be honest here; older teenagers are probably the most distrusted group of people on the planet," Tally said. "People see guys and girls your age and just expect them to be trouble."

"Bottom line, most of us aren't cute and innocent looking anymore," Rika muttered. "Is that what you're saying?"

"Something like that," Yamaki sighed. "And it shows. There's a general feeling that it's only a matter of time before one of you goes rogue. There's been talk online of people banding together to protest against you Tamers and Digimon, and some have even been discussing a more… direct approach to solving this so-called problem."

"Direct?" Kenta gulped. "As in…?" he trailed off, not wanting to say it in front of Ai and Mako, but everyone got the gist of it.

Yamaki looked grave. "Exactly. From parents worried about the fact their own children want a Digimon, to army generals who think you're a threat to national security… even religious groups who've heard of Fanglongmon and consider his existence a blasphemy on their faith. At the moment it's all talk - people are nervous about actively taking you on or making you angry. Everyone saw how you fought against the D-Reaper - they know what you're capable of. But if we get out in front of this problem and get it under control, hopefully, we can prevent any radical groups from trying to sort you out themselves."

"How can they feel this way?" Takato muttered. "We saved the world from the D-Reaper? If they remember that then… why?"

"They also remember Vikaralamon. And Ogudomon," Yamaki pointed out. "And the many other Digimon that have caused havoc whenever they bio-emerge."

Takato had no answer to that.

Renamon stepped out from the shadows beneath the tree, placing a consoling paw on Rika's shoulder. "So, how can we deal with this problem?"

Lopmon nodded. "Yes. If there is anything we Digimon can do to prove to the people we are on their side, then we will do in a heartbeat."

"We must win their trust if we ever wish to achieve proper coexistence in this world," Elecmon agreed. "And there is nothing more important to us than the safety of our Tamers."

Yamaki smiled. "I expected you to say that, but I'm relieved all the same. I have been discussing things with the Prime Minister and the Emperor, and all the rest of the highest ranking members of Japan's government and royalty. And it has been agreed that you Tamers cannot continue operating the same way you have been until now. Some changes must be made."

"Changes like what?" Rika asked. "I hope you're not thinking of giving us all bodyguards that have to dog our every move and watch us pee and crap like that."

"Well, that was something the Prime Minister was very keen on, but I managed to dissuade him," Yamaki coughed. "In exchange for another deal. Until you Tamers have won the full trust of the public, or at least as close as we can get to full, you must work more closely with the authorities when it comes to handling bio-emerging Digimon. You cannot just run in alone to deal with it yourselves anymore - you must work together with the police. Additionally, all your Digimon must return to their Rookie forms. Today. And you must not digivolve them unless you have been given permission by either the Chief of Police… or Aayla."

"Me?" Aayla blinked.

"Yes, you. You Aayla have already won the trust of the public because you've already been working with the authorities. You publicly defend our citizens from criminals alongside the police. You talk to reporters; you help heal anyone wounded in the fight. There were quite a few people who objected to your presence on our planet when you first arrived. Now, there are few because you're constantly in the public eye. They trust you. Unlike you Tamers, who merely show up to defeat the enemy and then continue to do your own thing, which has been more than fair up until now considering you're just children. But I'm afraid that has to change."

"Well, I guess that all sounds reasonable," Jeri said, responsibly. "We do kind of take things into our own hands a lot."

"Yeah, and we've been doing a good job of it," Kazu muttered. "Why have we got to start taking orders now? I get enough of that at school."

"Well, put it this way, you dunce," Rika rolled her eyes. "If you don't, then all you're going to do is make the government think the public are right to be worried about us."

"Wait, you're actually considering this, Rika?" Takato blinked. "I was sure you were going to be all gung-ho, screw the authorities, we do what we do best, that sort of thing."

"Sounds like something I might say," Rika snorted. "But you forget, Gogglebrain; I spent six months in the middle of an intergalactic war in another universe. And when I was there, I listened to others and followed instructions because if I hadn't, I'd probably have been screwed several times over. And it's the same thing here. Either we do what we told, or we're just going to make things worse. Simple as that."

"Yeah besides, the one we'll be taking orders from is Aayla," Terriermon grinned. "Hey, if I'm gonna take commands from anyone I'll take commands from her."

"Thank you, Terriermon," Aayla reached up to pluck him off her head. "I'll be sure to wait another week before levitating a pineapple over your head again for that."

"Aww, you're so considerate."

"I suppose it would be kinda neat to work with the police," Kenta said. "It would make us, what, honorary police officers ourselves?"

"Ey, we'd be the most badass group on the force," Impmon observed. "Wouldn't it be cool if we got to actually arrest someone?"

"I've always wanted to be a policewoman," Suzie beamed brightly. "Since I learned I couldn't be a princess anyway."

"It's definitely the wisest choice to take," Henry agreed. "But I'm guessing that's not all that'll be asked of us."

Riley nodded. "In a couple of week's time, we'd like to hold a press conference of sorts. Each of you Tamers and your Digimon partners would be interviewed both in turn and then as a group, just like Aayla was when she first came to our world. We need to show the public who you really are, break through some of the mythoi that surround you all and show them what you all showed me - that you Digimon really are just more than data capable of taking form. That you can do more than destroy things."

"Will that work?" Elecmon asked.

"It'll be a start. It wouldn't sway everyone to your side overnight, but over time it should work."

"But what about the other Digimon?" asked Renamon, shrewdly. "Those that bio-emerge into this world and cause damage will hardly be helping our case."

"Indeed, and there have been many calls for the Digital World and everything in it to be annihilated somehow, and one or two hacktivist groups have even tried to install viruses to the Digital World in an attempt to disrupt it. Thankfully the Digital World is infinitely more vast and complex than a simple computer, so their efforts fell flat, so we will definitely need to tackle that problem too."

Yamaki smiled. "But for now… baby steps. And early ones so we can nip all this very firmly in the bud before it gets out of hand."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Takato said. "Is everyone else up for it?"

"It's kinda scary… I'm not sure I'm ready for going on a TV show," Jeri bit her lip. "But if it means keeping you guys all safe I'll do it."

"It's a no-brainer. We have to do it," Rika said. "This was always going to happen eventually when the Digimon became public knowledge."

"What about you Digimon?" Henry asked. "Are you okay with it?"

Terriermon pumped his ear into the air. "Momentai, Henry. Of course we are. Our faces are already all over cards and computer game boxes. My face is already in a Digimon movie with that Willis guy! We can do showbiz no problem."

"To be clear," Renamon said. "There is no greater authority to any of us than our Tamers. That will always be the case, no matter what. But, if Rika is okay with me following the orders of a police chief I will do so. And if she goes on television, I will be right there by her side."

"I guess we're gonna end up as celebrities, huh?" Impmon grinned, nudging Lopmon. "Won't be anything new to you three, huh? You had loads of fans back in Aayla's universe."

"Once we went public, we did," Lopmon giggled. "I guess we can only hope the case will be the same here."

"Then I will make the arrangements forthwith," Yamaki smiled. "I trust you will have no problem being the Digimons' liaison with the public, Aayla?"

"Of course."

"I have to admit, I was half afraid myself that you'd all be much more opposed to the new rules than you have been," Yamaki noted. "But you've reminded me once again that you're the most mature group of children I've ever had the pleasure to work with."

"Except those two," Terriermon quipped, pointing at Kazu and Kenta.

"Hey, you're not exactly mature yourself," Kazu protested.

"He's not a child, he's a Digimon," said Guilmon. "Big difference if you ask me."

"Speaking of Digimon, if we all need to stay in our Rookie forms that means you three should probably find a way to de-digivolve," Renamon glanced to Guardromon, MarineAngemon and Cyberdramon.

"Oh my, I have not been a Hagurumon for quite some time," Guardromon rubbed the top of his flat head. "It will feel most peculiar to have gears on the outside again."

"I'm gonna miss this form, buddy," Kazu thumped the big robot's arm and moaned. "I guess that means we're gonna have to go jogging or something to wear you out… man, I hate jogging."

"De-digivolving," MarineAngemon said immediately, shrinking down and reverting to his Gomamon form.

"Oh sure, rub it in," Kazu muttered.

Everyone automatically turned to look at Cyberdramon, expecting him to de-digivolve as well. But Cyberdramon was looking at Ryo, who was staring up at the sky with unfocused eyes.

"Er… Ryo?" Henry prompted.

"Hm? What?" Ryo jumped a little, looking around at the assorted faces.

"Cyberdramon… he needs to de-digivolve if we're going to follow the new rules," Rika rolled her eyes. "Were you even listening?"

Ryo smiled wanly. "Right, right. Cyberdramon, if you would."

Cyberdramon growled. He hated voluntarily shrinking into a lower form. When he was Monodramon, he no longer minded, but his battle-wired mind in his Ultimate form loathed becoming weaker. Still, he obeyed the command and glowed, his body collapsing in on itself until he was the familiar little purple dragon once again.

"Excellent," Yamaki nodded. "Mr Shioda, if you could get Guardromon down to his lower stage as soon as possible that would be most appreciated. But now, we should be on our way. There's a lot of organisation needs doing to set up these interviews."

Once Yamaki and the others had gone, the Tamers quickly began chattering amongst themselves, mulling over how this change in regime was going to affect them in the long run while the Digimon did much the same. "I never expected things might get so complex when I first became Rika's Digimon," Renamon murmured. "I never thought I would have to be concerned with how the public views me."

"It's just another reminder of how different this world is from our own," Lopmon nodded. "Everyone just puts their faith in the Sovereign back home but here… humans are just far less trusting I suppose."

"But to be fair, the existence of giant monsters is natural there whereas it's still a relatively new phenomenon here," Elecmon reasoned. "The humans are justified in their fear. We just need to prove it is unnecessary."

The only ones that stayed quiet were Ryo and Monodramon. The former simply had too much on his mind to consider Yamaki's proposals correctly, and the other was left staring up at his Tamer with wide eyes, unsure how to console him.

"Ryo, are you okay?"

Ryo looked up sharply to see Aayla standing over him. "Yeah, of course," he quickly said, forcing a smile. "Why do you ask?"

"I am empathic, remember," Aayla pointed out. "I can tell your heart is very heavy right now. And there's a deep worry gnawing away at you. But I do not know why."

"…There's not much that can be hidden from a Jedi, is there?"

"On the contrary, there's a lot that can be hidden from us. Otherwise, we wouldn't have had a Sith Lord as the leader of our Republic for over a decade. We're not perfect by any stretch. But I wouldn't even need to be an empath to see that something is troubling you."

"Well… it's personal. And besides, I think it's probably nothing."

"Alright," Aayla lowered herself into a crouch and placed a hand on Ryo's shoulder, squeezing it lightly. "But you can always talk to us - any of us - if you need to. I am willing to bet even Rika can suspend her sarcasm for a little bit if you wanted to confide in her," she added with a quirk to her lips.

Ryo laughed, genuinely. "Yeah, maybe. But then we'd all know it was the end times when that happens."

After Aayla had left, Monodramon hopped up to Ryo to look him in the eye. "Do you think we should tell them, Ryo?" he asked. "They're our friends… shouldn't they know about me? About him?"

Ryo briefly watched as Terriermon rode around on Guilmon's back, Jeri revealed she'd brought a huge bag of cream puffs just for Calumon, and the twins darted around everyone else with a pair of NERF guns shooting at each other with loud cries of "Corona Blaster!" and "Death The Cannon!"

"They deserve to," nodded Ryo. "But we can't tell them, Monodramon. Not yet. They'll never look at you the same way again, and besides, we don't even know if there's anything really to worry about or whether we're just paranoid. We shouldn't worry them unnecessarily."

"So when do we tell them?"

Ryo bit his lip. "How about this? The moment you feel anything, and I mean anything, that seems like Millenniummon stirring, then we'll tell them. When he gives us a concrete reason to. But not before."

Monodramon nodded. And then, partly to alleviate his own worry and partly to make Ryo smile, he dashed across the garden, stole a cream puff from Impmon's hand right before he could eat it and then hared away with the irate Digimon hard on his heels, screaming abuse at him while everyone around them laughed.


	4. A Sister's Wish

**CHAPTER 4:- A SISTER'S WISH**

* * *

A week passed, and there was no further incident. Ryo didn't have a single troubling nightmare, nor did Monodramon sense any sign of evil stirring within him. It gave Ryo no small sense of relief, as well as greater surety that all his worrying was completely unfounded.

But while he calmed down, the rest of the Tamers were beginning to get a little nervous. Yamaki had gone through with arranging the television broadcast, and now it was only a week away. Despite everything they'd been through, and the fact they'd been on TV before while they were filmed fighting the D-Reaper, not one of them had ever given a public interview.

It was a daunting prospect.

Primarily for the younger Tamers. Something which Suzie was very vocal about.

"What if I look silly?" she fretted at breakfast for the third time in a row. "What if I forget I'm on camera and pick my nose or something? What if the interview guy asks me about when I learned Digimon were real… should I tell him about Princess Pretty Pants?"

"Oh for the love of Fanglongmon, please don't mention that," Terriermon choked on his bowl of cereal. "Anything else. Literally anything but that."

"We could always tell the world about your ridiculous fear of pineapples," Lopmon said sweetly.

"Hey, go ahead. Like I said, literally anything other than Princess Pretty Pants."

"I'm sure you'll do fine, sweetie," Janyu smiled, placing a hand on top of Suzie's head and ruffling your hair. "As long as you be yourself, everyone watching will see you for who you really are."

"I hope so," Suzie murmured, poking her fingers together.

"Besides, you've faced far worse than a camera," Terriermon pointed out. "If you can get lost in a forest of trees so tall you can't see the tops and make friends with a giant lizard creature who carries you back to civilisation; you can handle an interview."

"I guess," Suzie smiled fondly, then she slipped into speaking with her mind without really thinking about it. _I do miss Zarza._

 _I miss them all,_ Lopmon agreed. _And we should be prepared to answer questions about that world. It won't be lost on the interviewer that it was the six of us that brought Aayla back to our world._

 _Good point, I hadn't even considered that,_ Henry nodded, tapping his chin. _Where do we even start if we're asked about that world?_

 _At the beginning, of course,_ Terriermon said. _But I don't think there'll be that many questions about all that. It's an interesting tidbit, but it's not the point of the interview, so it'll probably be kept to a minimum._

Renamon's voice broke through the mind-link from where she was currently watching Rika practice a few tai-chi moves - she had decided to pick up the hobby just in case she ever needed to defend herself when Renamon wasn't around and was even learning from Henry's sensei.

 _That is true, and besides, Aayla has already answered many of those questions herself on her own television appearances._

 _I wonder if we'll ever get a chance to go back,_ Suzie lamented, for about the three-thousandth time in the last year.

 _I hope so,_ Terriermon agreed.

"You're doing it again," interrupted Henry and Suzie's older sister, Jaarin, who was sitting across the table and giving them a relatively flat stare.

"Oh, right. Sorry," Henry coughed. "It's just so easy to get lost in a thought conversation sometimes."

"Uh-huh," Jaarin sighed, poking at her eggs but not making any attempt to eat them. Henry and Suzie looked at each other in bewilderment. Jaarin was usually the most upbeat person they knew, excluding most of the Digimon. She was sweet and kind, and excited by practically everything. She wasn't the sort of girl that regularly went out to parties, spent hours trying to look good, or worried about getting a boyfriend - she just lived life to the absolute fullest. She wanted to see the world, wanted to enjoy every waking moment and loved every member of her family dearly. She was also extremely good at video games, enough to make Henry look bad at times and even give Terriermon a run for his money. Once, Terriermon had challenged Jaarin to a gaming marathon that had lasted almost a full twenty-four hours with only a couple of snack breaks in between.

Jaarin had won. Terriermon didn't like talking about it.

But the point was, this current behaviour was extraordinarily uncharacteristic for her.

"Is everything okay Jaarin?" Henry asked.

"Huh? Oh no, it's fine, it's fine," Jaarin looked up and instantly smiled. "It's just, you know, I really wish I could be part of the conversation sometimes when you guys slip into that mental speak."

"Maybe one day you can be," Lopmon pointed out. "We don't exactly know how it works, but maybe one day we'll figure out how to add anyone to the link."

"Maybe… but… no, never mind. It's nothing."

"Well obviously it's something," Terriermon said, getting to his feet on the tabletop and wiggling the fingers on his ears with a threatening smirk. "Don't make me tickle it out of you Jaarin. I know all your weak spots remember?"

"Of course you do, because you try to find them to distract me when we play games you little cheater," Jaarin flicked a bean at him, but Terriermon just caught it in his mouth. But Jaarin now had four expectant faces staring at her. Six if you included her parents who looked equally interested in what she had to say. If their older brother Rinchei had been there, it would have been seven, but he was now at university studying business.

So Jaarin sighed and laid down her fork. "Okay, I'll tell you. It's nothing major really. It's just… I wish that I was in the same boat as you guys right now."

"Huh? You wish you were being interviewed next week?" Henry frowned. "I didn't think you wanted to be famous."

"Oh no, I don't give a monkey's about being famous. But I do wish I was being interviewed next week because if I was… it would mean that I had a Digimon partner too."

The whole group blinked at that, especially because of just how downcast Jaarin's face had become when she said it.

"You want to be a Tamer, Jaarin?" Suzie asked.

"Of course I do," Jaarin sighed wistfully. "How could I not, when I live with the four of you? I mean, look at you, Henry. And you, Suzie. The both of you just have this… this… incredible, unquestionable… absolutely unbreakable bond with your Digimon. And you two, Terriermon and Lopmon, I love you both to bits. You know that I do. But, you know… after I learned that you were real and I saw the bond you have I just wished that I could have that too. I'd give practically anything to have my own Digimon partner, and have that bond myself."

"…Wow, Jaarin," Henry breathed. "I sort of knew in the back of my head that you'd like to be a Tamer, but I had no idea you wanted it that bad."

Jaarin smiled, a little sadly. "I always hoped it would happen. Ever since you guys came back after the whole D-Reaper thing. But I guess… the opportunity just never came knocking at my door."

"Hey, you never know," Terriermon pointed out. "The Digital World's chock-full with lots of different Digimon. I'm sure there's one out there who could become your partner one day."

"I think it might be a little late for me to be honest."

"What makes you say that?" Lopmon cocked her head.

"Well… I'm not a child anymore," Jaarin said. "I'm nineteen, so technically I'm an adult. Next semester I'll be going off to uni like Rinchei. And I saw Mr McCoy's broadcast way back when the D-Reaper was attacking - Digimon are more drawn to children."

"Hey, age doesn't mean squat," Terriermon declared. "I didn't become Henry's partner because he's a child. I became his partner because he seemed like a nice guy and he made me stronger."

"I do admit I was drawn to Suzie because she was just so innocent," Lopmon conceded. "But I saw that report too Jaarin, and if I remember right, Mr McCoy said it was the creativity and imagination that Digimon are drawn to because it allows us to learn and grow, and that's what it takes to bond with us."

"And you've got a great imagination, Jaarin," Suzie nodded. "I love the stories you write. And you want to be an author, right? You need lots of imagination to be one of those."

"At least a good one," Terriermon snickered.

"…You really think there's still a chance I can become a Tamer?" Jaarin asked, a sliver of hope appearing in her voice.

"Absolutely," Lopmon nodded. "You shouldn't ever give up hope. Opportunity can come out of nowhere like it did when I became Suzie's Tamer. It never occurred to me even a couple of hours earlier that that would ever happen."

"And I fell out of a computer screen to meet Henry," Terriermon added. "You just never know."

Jaarin smiled, looking suitably cheered up, finally beginning to make a start on her eggs. "Well… I still think I might have missed my chance really, but where there's life there's hope, right?"

"That's the spirit," Suzie beamed. Then privately she added, _Do you think Jaarin would be a good Tamer?_

 _Are you kidding? She knows more about the Digimon anime than Henry does,_ Terriermon pointed out.

 _Actually, that's true,_ Henry said. _Jaarin never really cared much for the Digimon franchise before she learned they were real and then she got into it quite quickly… I should have guessed she wanted to be a Tamer so badly much sooner._

 _Do you think we can find her a partner?_ Suzie asked.

 _No, I don't believe we can,_ said Lopmon. _That's something only she can do herself._

 _It's a shame we didn't have a third sibling, right Loppy?_ Terriermon snickered. _Or a fourth if we want to include Rinchei._

 _Well, I think one hyperactive goofball of a brother is quite enough, thank you._

 _Oooooh, a knife! Knife straight to the heart!_

"You know you guys are doing it again, right?" Jaarin said, which much more amusement in her tone this time.

"Sorry," echoed four voices at once.

"It's okay. But hey, how would you guys like to go for a picnic at the park this weekend. Just the five of us. It'll be fun - I haven't had a picnic in ages."

"That sounds great! Count me in!" Suzie cheered.

"Me too," Henry nodded. "We just need to make sure there's not a pineapple to be seen. Terriermon's already forbidden us from going to Hawaii."

"They make pizza evil there! Pizza! The most sacred food there is!"

* * *

Takato ran through the hallway of the school at warp speed later that day. Somehow he'd managed to end up being late again, having been caught up in recounting the story of how he and Guilmon had defeated IceDevimon to a couple of pre-schoolers before he'd even gotten an entire street away from the bakery.

"Oh man, after being late so many times you'd think I'd have learned by now," he muttered to himself as he ran. "Ms Asaji's going to kill me! Or at least make me wait in the hallway for the whole day!"

But as he ran, something suddenly made him pause in his stride, almost falling flat on his face as he skidded to a halt outside a partially open door. Ms Asaji's voice was coming from inside… but it wasn't the right classroom - it was an unused one since the kids who were usually in it had gym for first period.

Wait… Ms Asaji's late for class too? Takato blinked. But… but that never happens, no matter how tired or frustrated she gets.

Curiosity overwhelmed him, and he inched closer to the door to listen intently to the conversation beyond.

"How many times do I have to tell you, no," Ms Asaji's familiar and exasperated voice drifted into his ears. "Now's not the time."

"Well, when is the time, huh?" a voice that was entirely unfamiliar responded - a girl's voice and one that sounded very stroppy. "Why exactly do I have to listen to all these stupid rules anyway, tell me that!"

"Because I say so, that's why. I'm the teacher here; it's my responsibility to make sure these children get their education."

"Okay sure, but that doesn't explain why you won't let me go and…"

"Because if you did then I would have to run around and babysit you the whole time, and I have too much on my plate to make sure you don't get into trouble as well. Plus, I have a reputation to uphold here."

"What are you saying, huh? That I'm a blight on your so-called reputation, is that it?"

"No, that's not what I mean. But I have duties. Things are expected of me, especially since I'm the teacher to almost every Digimon Tamer in the city. That already gives me migraines as it is and… look, I don't have time for this right now. I'm already… oh god, I'm five minutes late for class. It's gonna be a madhouse in that classroom when I get in there now. Just… do what I tell you, and I promise we'll talk about this later."

"You promise that you promise?"

"Yes, yes, I promise that I promise. Now, will you please just do it?"

"Fine, but I'm holding you to that, you hear?"

Takato heard footsteps making for the door and quickly shuffled away from it. The last thing he wanted for Ms Asaji to realise he'd been eavesdropping so, thinking quickly, he started jogging forwards again just as his teacher opened the door then skidded to a halt next to her.

"Ms Asaji? What are you doing here?"

"Never mind what I'm doing Takato," Ms Asaji's brow arched upwards. "What exactly are you doing that made you late for class? Again?"

"Eeeeeeerrrrr…" Takato hesitated, then dropped his head. "I'm sorry Miss… am I getting detention again?"

"For all the good it seems to do you, yes. Come on, let's go."

She strode off down the hallway towards her classroom, and as her back was turned Takato took the chance to sneak a look inside the room she'd been in.

There was nobody there. Nobody at all. And yet, no one else had exited the classroom with her.

"Oooooookay," he muttered to himself. But he was quick to hurry after Ms Asaji before she could notice him lagging behind.

Who exactly had she been talking to?


	5. A Fraid of Ghosts

**CHAPTER 5:- A FRAID OF GHOSTS**

* * *

"So you weren't kidding, Aayla?" said a particularly astonished policeman. "The tall fox Digimon and the little white bunny… they really are mates!?"

"The tall fox Digimon has a name," Renamon said pointedly. She was standing alongside Aayla in the local police station, in front of a large gathering of officers, her arms folded and fixing said officer with an intense stare that had him tugging at his collar awkwardly within a couple of seconds. "As does the little white bunny come to that."

"Yes, Officer Fuchsia, they are," Aayla chuckled. "I really wasn't making that up, you know."

"That doesn't matter right now," the police chief interjected. "What's important is you think we can use that as an instant hotline to these Tamers even while they're at school now we're supposed to be working with them?"

"Yes," Aayla nodded. "When a Digimon bio-emerges, the other Digimon can sense it. Therefore, if Terriermon remains with the Tamers while they're at school while Renamon stays with us, between them they can coordinate both groups to meet up at the bio-emergence site."

"And then we make the call as to whether a… digivolution… is necessary?"

"Honestly, Chief, the ones most qualified to make that call are the Tamers themselves. They know Digimon better than you or I. But, as Yamaki said, they need to answer to authority so yes, we make the call. But if they request it, I would highly advise that we grant it."

"But doesn't that just make us unnecessary?" another officer asked. "The Tamers would be just doing their usual thing, but with a bigger audience, wouldn't they?"

"More or less," Renamon said. "But this isn't about making the Tamers fall in line. It's about proving to the world that they are upstanding citizens, not just destructive or dangerous thrill-seekers. There is a difference."

"Think of it as putting on a little act to help keep the peace," said Aayla. "Albeit an act with at least some merit to it."

"And what if I say no?" the chief asked. "Will the Tamers concede?"

"They should. And if they don't they will have to answer for it. But so will you if you make the wrong call."

"Huh… no pressure then."

"There wouldn't be too much if you put your trust in them as I do. Three of them fought in a massive war alongside me back in my universe. They were outstanding even there at keeping the innocent out of harm's way."

"So what will our job's be when the Tamers are fighting against the Digimon?" said another officer.

"Crowd control, of course," the chief said. "It'll be our responsibility to keep the public away from the battle and set up a perimeter to try and help the Tamers keep the threat contained in as small an area of the city as possible. And should the Digimon prove to be friendly, we assist the Tamers in escorting it back to the portal to their world, correct?"

"Exactly," Renamon nodded.

The portal in Shinjuku Park was another big reason why Rika's house was the new main hangout for the Tamers. Guilmon's old hideout was unusable considering the contingent of heavily armed guards that patrolled it regularly. Since the Tamers had started taking scared and lost Digimon back to it, the portal's location had become public knowledge. And now the guards were making sure no other young children with ideas of getting their own Digimon could get through. Or drunken idiots.

"Well then I guess there's nothing more we can do on this topic for the moment," said the chief. "We'll need to have a formal meeting with the Tamers at some point when they get out of school but for the time being…"

Suddenly Renamon stiffened, looking up sharply and the fur on her main standing a little on end. "Actually," she interrupted. "I believe we just received our first joint mission. I can sense Digimon appearing nearby… and it feels like there's more than one of them."

"What timing," Aayla said with dry amusement. "Well then, shall we get underway?"

* * *

"Alright class, first off let me apologise for being a little late today," Ms Asaji was saying when she'd finally been able to get everyone's attention. "I had some personal business to take care of but let me stress that this is not an excuse for all of you to start turning up late as well. Now, we've already lost a little time today, but we're supposed to be doing biology, so everyone get out your textbooks and…"

"HENRY! There's a Digimon appearing!" Terriermon suddenly landed on the windowsill and pointed out into the city. "Feels like there might be quite a few of them this time!"

"Well, so much for that," Ms Asaji sighed, rubbing her temples tiredly.

"Eh, sorry Nami. We'll be sure to give them a talking to for you," Terriermon chuckled, even as all the Tamers in the room were shooting to their feet and running for the door.

"I can only thank you for not telling me to 'Momentai' this time," Ms Asaji muttered.

"Well, there's always next time," Terriermon grinned before zinging away, swooping low over the school grounds as the Tamers appeared and grabbed their bikes from the front. Suzie ran in from another direction, following Lopmon and meeting up with the rest of the Digimon at the front of the school.

"Is Renamon on her way?" Rika asked.

"Yeah, and she's bringing Aayla and the police with her," Terriermon said.

"This is gonna be our first joint mission together guys, so let's try not to screw this up," Henry said.

"Hey, no problem. It's just a simple bio-emergence. What could happen?" Kazu grinned.

* * *

"Ryo! Ryo! We've got a Digimon alert!" Monodramon cried, having scrambled up the side of Ryo's school building to deliver the message, creating many dents in the brickwork thanks to his claws in the process.

Immediately Ryo was out the door and also on his bike, Monodramon leaping on his back as he pedalled through the city at full tilt towards the fog bank which had erupted close to a local market. Sirens could be heard in the distance, indicating the approaching police.

By the time Ryo got there, the police were already very much in evidence, rushing around the outside of the Digital Field and ushering the public away from the scene, doing their jobs perfectly. Aayla and Renamon were waiting with the chief at the edge of the field. And as Ryo pulled up the rest of the Tamers cycled in as well from another direction, dropping their bikes to the ground and dashing over to converge with each other at once. A slightly panting Guilmon brought up the rear next to the newly de-digivolved Hagurumon.

"Hey Aayla, what's going on?" Takato asked.

"I don't think the Digital Field is going to last much longer," the Twi'lek said. "We're not sure what's in there yet, but Renamon says there are at least twenty of them."

"Maybe more," Renamon agreed.

"It's nice to meet you all at last," the police chief dipped his head. "But we'll have time for a formal introduction later. Now that you're all here let's get in there and take a look. If I understand all this correctly, we should try to neutralise the threat before this fog lifts if at all possible."

"Gotcha," Takato pulled his goggles over his eyes. "Let's go."

They made their way into the fog, wafting it away from their faces as they searched the gloom for their target. But it didn't take long to fight them. Renamon was right - there were indeed over twenty. And they were all making constant small, drawn-out moaning noises that were meant to sound spooky… but if anything just sounded a little comical.

"Gh… ghosts!?" the police chief gasped. "Are those ghosts!?"

"Oh, it's just a bunch of Bakemon," Rika said, lifting her sunglasses. "They're Champion level Digimon, but they're kind of at the weak end of the spectrum for that level."

"Does that mean digivolving will be unnecessary?"

"I would think so," Renamon agreed. "A powerful Bakemon is a very rare thing."

"Still, let's try and resolve this peacefully if we can," Henry said, stepping forward with his arms spread out in a peaceful gesture. The Bakemon had noticed them by now, and all bunched up to stare with fangs very much in evidence.

"Hello," Henry called. "My name's Henry. Do you guys know where you are?"

One of the Bakemon floated forwards, raising a grey claw from beneath the white rags that covered its body. "You… you are a Tamer, right?"

"Yes, that's right. I am."

"Then that means… we have made it to the Human World at last!"

"You meant to come here?" Henry asked. "Why? What is your purpose here?"

"Our purpose?" the Bakemon grinned somewhat maniacally. "Why, our purpose is to kill you! You Tamers destroyed GranDracmon, our lord and master! We are the last of the Nightmare Soldiers and now… we will make you pay!"

"Are you for real!?" snorted a voice from nearby. Impmon had arrived, though Ai and Mako were still in school. "You guys honestly think that you, of all Digimon, could beat the Tamers? The same group of humans that stopped the D-Reaper!? That defeated GranDracmon! Haaaaahaha! I'm sorry, but that's just priceless! You guys have got no hope!"

"How dare you insult us!" the Bakemon hissed, all twenty of them tensing for combat! "You will die first! All of you will perish!"

And with a flurry of motion, all twenty surged forward erratically, like paper bags blowing in the wind.

"Guess diplomacy is out this time, Henry!" Terriermon cried, leaping forward over his Tamer's head and screaming, **"BUNNY BLAST!"** The Bakemon scattered as green pellets showered from the white rabbit's mouth, and by the time they re-organised themselves the rest of the Digimon were forming a wall between them and the Tamers.

"So… digivolve or no digivolve!? the police chief asked.

"No need for it," Rika shook her head. "These guys are a joke, not worth the effort. This fight will be over before it starts."

Before any other words could be said the Bakemon surged forwards again, and the rest of the Digimon sprang forwards to engage them. One of the Bakemon thrust its hand out towards Guilmon, the arm stretching like it was made of elastic, but the red dinosaur snatched the claws in his own and yanked the ghost forwards. **"ROCK BREAKER!"** he cried, smashing his other claws into the Bakemon's face and instantly deleting it. Two more whirled in from behind, but Guilmon had already sensed their presence and spun around to face them, jaws glowing.

 **"** **PYRO SPHERE!"**

"Waaagh!" the two Bakemon tried to dodge. One succeeded, while the other was vaporised. But the survivor only had a moment to be relieved before he was seized from behind by Renamon and whipped about into three more of his comrades, who all slumped to the floor as the fox crossed her arms overhead.

 **"** **DIAMOND STORM!"**

The was nothing left but scattered particles of all four Bakemon a mere two seconds later.

 **"** **ZOMBIE CLAW!"** another Bakemon cried, lashing its arms down towards Elecmon.

But Elecmon just fanned his tail and countered with, **"SUPER THUNDER STRIKE!"** The electricity that burst from his feather-like tail caught the claws head-on and zapped up them to swamp the Bakemon's body with lightning and wipe it off the face of the earth instantly.

"Quick! Regroup!" one of the Bakemon yelled, and the rest of them quickly formed up and cried, **"POISON BREATH!"** They all exhaled at the same time, spewing a bellyful of greenish toxic smoke towards all of the Digimon that coagulated into a single, deadly cloud.

"Looks like our turn," Terriermon said, as he and Lopmon leapt forwards to link their ears together and whip themselves into a spinning frenzy. **"TWIN CYCLONE!"** they cried and rushed into the mist, whipping it up around them and blowing it right back towards the Bakemon. Once again the ghosts scattered, and several of them get out of the way quick enough to avoid being hammered by the attack and sent blowing backwards like giant ugly snowflakes.

Instantly the other Digimon stormed in, and the Bakemon didn't stand a chance. Hagurumon swept forwards with cogs spinning wildly to slam into two at once. Guilmon hammered another into the ground with both hands. Impmon lashed his arms forwards to summon a ball of fire and another of ice from the ground and send them shooting forwards like a pair of miniature cannon balls to reduce two more Bakemon to tatters. Even Gomamon slid underneath the strike of another Bakemon before leaping up to slash at him with his claws.

Monodramon was in the thick of it too. He sprang into the air to rebound off one Bakemon's head a microsecond before said Bakemon was knocked silly by Renamon, and he arced up into the air with his fist cocked back. **"BEAT KNUCKLE!"** he cried and walloped another Bakemon right between the eyes, stunning it and riding its body all the way down to delete it on impact with the floor. And he spun around moments later to dodge another Bakemon's hand and slash at it with one of the wing-like projections on his arms, a shadowy blade arcing off the wing and slicing straight into the Bakemon's body, cutting it down.

But one of the other Bakemon was right behind him, and Monodramon gasped as he was suddenly seized in the Bakemon's claws and lifted into the air.

"Okay, maybe we can't fight you!" the Bakemon cried. "But let's see how good you are at fighting one of your own!"

"Let go!" Monodramon growled as the Bakemon swamped over him, the rags surrounding the little purple dragon's body and fading into it, the Bakemon phasing its way into Monodramon. But Monodramon was able to seize the coat-tails of the white rags just before that too could vanish inside of him and snarled as he held the Bakemon back from fully possessing him. Still, he could feel his consciousness slipping, his mind clouding as the Bakemon tried to take control. Everything was going black… and Monodramon fought to clear his head and force the Bakemon out.

But then… the Bakemon halted. And it only took Monodramon a second to figure out why - he sensed it too. Rummaging around in Monodramon's mind as he fought for control, the Bakemon had stumbled across something. Something that made it freeze in its tracks. And something that made Monodramon's digital blood run cold.

 _No!_ he gasped inside his head. _Not now!_

 _What… what is this!?_ he heard the Bakemon think in horror.

And then another voice…

 _Why hello Monodramon. It's been such a long time, hasn't it!?_

 _NO!_ Monodramon tried to scream, but the sound didn't reach his mouth, as he felt a massive surge of consciousness overwhelm him and the Bakemon both!

And then Renamon was there seizing the Bakemon's rags and heaving, dragging the ghost right out of Monodramon's body. Her paw glowed with a bright blue aura, and she smashed the Bakemon straight in the face, vaporising it before it could so much as blink. And as it turned out, that was the last Bakemon in the Digital Field, and with them all gone it immediately began to dissipate, revealing the street beyond.

"My gosh," the police chief murmured. "That was… surprisingly brutal."

"Digimon fights can be," Aayla said. "I do wish we could have negotiated with them a little more before all that started though."

"There wouldn't have been any negotiating with them," Impmon muttered, putting his hands behind his head. "Those guys were Nightmare Soldiers. Deluded followers of the worst of the worst in Digimon history. Besides, if it turns out they could have been good guys, Anubimon will make sure they're reborn. If not, they're better off out of the way."

Monodramon stood still, his eyes unfocused as he swayed slightly on the spot, looking mildly punch-drunk. Renamon knelt down beside him, placing a paw on his shoulder in concern. "Are you alright?" she asked him. "Did that Bakemon hurt you?"

Monodramon made no response at first… then he seized Renamon's paw and sank his teeth into her arm!

"AAAGGGGH!" Renamon cried, drawing the attention of everyone across the street as she surged to her feet, Monodramon clinging to her even as he was lifted off the ground, his yellow eyes blazing.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Rika cried out in instant fury! "MONODRAMON, THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?"

"MONODRAMON, STOP!" Ryo gasped. "LET HER GO!"

Monodramon did let go, just as Renamon lashed her arm and sent him arcing away, but he was able to land gracefully on his feet. Renamon gripped her arm, her data crackling slightly in the spot where she'd been bitten. And everyone else around the street just stared in shock and horror.

"What just happened!?" Takato gasped. "Monodramon's never done that before."

"I don't know," Henry gaped. "I might expect something like that from Cyberdramon but not Monodramon."

"Renamon, are you okay?" Rika cried, she and Terriermon quickly hurrying over to inspect Renamon's wound.

"I am fine," Renamon muttered. "My data is already re-stabilising."

"Monodramon, you better start explaining yourself right now!" Terriermon glared at the purple dragon, who was still staring at the floor looking unfocused.

But then he raised his head, his eyes locking on Terriermon and his beak curving into a sinister grin. And as he spoke, his voice was not his own at all. It was a deep, almost metallic growl that sent shivers down everyone's spine… especially Ryo's.

"Monodramon's not here right now. Can I take a message for him?"

"…No…" Ryo gasped, his heart stopping as he staggered backwards in disbelief. "No… no, it can't be."

"Oh, but it can Ryo," Monodramon chuckled, turning to eye his Tamer with an air of immensely smug satisfaction. "You knew, deep down, it would only be a matter of time. And that time is here. Aren't you going to say hello to your old partner?"

"What is going on?" Henry demanded. "What are you saying, Monodramon?"

"That is not my name, Henry Wong," Monodramon purred, like an oily mechanical cat. "I am Millenniummon. How do you do?"

* * *

That ends my mass update on the first day. I already have the next ten chapters written out, but from now on every time I upload a chapter it will be because I finished another one further down the line. I hope you guys enjoyed the beginning of this story, and that you will enjoy what is still to come.


	6. Secret Monster

**CHAPTER 6:- SECRET MONSTER**

* * *

"Millenniummon?" Takato blinked. "I know that name."

"I am not surprised, Takato Matsuki," Monodramon chuckled. "With the number of times you've watched that TV show… it's an absolute crime that I was not featured in it much more. The plot for the second season would have made so much more sense if they'd shown my face."

"That's… that's the name of the monster that Ken fought against between the seasons," Takato clicked his fingers. "The one that put the Dark Spore in the back of his neck in the first place and turned him into the Digimon Emperor."

"Correct. He made quite the excellent villain, did he not? Not an entirely intentional feat, I admit. But I take my victories where I can get them. A shame those Digi-Destined were able to snap him out of it."

"Monodramon, what are you talking about?" Guilmon asked.

"Guilmon, are you not even listening?" Monodramon rolled his eyes. "I am not Monodramon. It's true I have his body… far from desirable… but at least I can move again." He flexed his arms and rolled his shoulders, clenching and unclenching his claws forcibly. "Oooooh, that feels good. Like reawakening your muscles after a long sleep."

"You shouldn't be here!" Ryo suddenly yelled, his face a mask of pain and horror. "We stopped you! We stopped you for good!"

"You can't stop me, Ryo. Not forever. I am a part of you, my partner."

"You are NOT my partner!" Ryo snarled. "Give him back! Give me Monodramon back!"

"Ah, Ryo. So cruel you can sometimes be. Why should I give him back? I am the victim here, Ryo. Monodramon is a thief who stole my body and my partner from me. I can still feel him in here now, fighting for control. But he won't be getting it back. I'm in charge now, and I'm here to stay."

"Can somebody please start making some sense around here!?" Rika yelled. "Who's Millenniummon? What's a god damn TV show got to do with anything and why the hell did you bite Renamon?"

"I sense something… incredibly dark…" Aayla breathed. "It is like Monodramon has been replaced with an entirely new entity… and I have not felt such evil since Palpatine."

"See Ryo; this is why you should have told them earlier," Monodramon snorted. "Now you're going to have an awful lot of awkward explanations to get through. Not that it matters really. None of them will be alive much longer."

"…How…?" Ryo asked. "How are you awake again? There hasn't been any sign of you for years!"

"That's true. I admit I was so surprised by Monodramon's choice of tactic that he managed to smother my consciousness before I could fight back. I have been lying dormant within him… until you went to the Dark Ocean to rescue Impmon from GranDracmon."

"What?" Ryo breathed. "You mean… you've been awake since then?"

"No, not awake," Monodramon shook his head. "I was still asleep… but you see Ryo there is a difference between sleep and hibernation. When we went to the Dark Ocean, some of its dark energy was absorbed into me and was able to rouse me from the latter, but we were not there long enough to bring me to full wakefulness. I suspect you did subconsciously sense something was different about me after we returned though… hence the nightmares you've been having this past year. But I was still sleeping… until that Bakemon invaded our head and found me just now. Essentially, he poked the sleeping dragon. And Monodramon was too busy trying to fight him to be able to fight me!"

He laughed sardonically. "Think of it. A single, simple Bakemon just managed to doom the entire world. Ironic, isn't it? It might have been an accident, but he actually did something competently evil in his last few moments of life. Worthy of congratulations, if not praise."

"No… no, no, no, this can't be…" Ryo whispered, falling to his knees and trembling all over, too overwhelmed by his own horror to think clearly. He should have known the nightmares meant something! He should have done something instead of putting it off and just hoping that he wouldn't have to deal with it! And now Monodramon… Monodramon…

"Oh my gosh, I just realised where I know that voice from," Kazu cried. "It sounds exactly the same as Machinedramon from the TV show."

"Hey, you're right," Takato gasped. "That's quite a coincidence."

"Hardly," Monodramon rolled his eyes. "After all… I am that Machinedramon."

"…What?"

"Oh for the love of… why do I even care if you understand or not?"

"Well I don't get what's going on, but I know one thing," Guilmon said, hunkering down and readying for battle. "Whoever you are, you're in our friend's body. Give him back, or we'll be forced to fight you!"

"Yes, and you'll probably win. I do not have the data to reassume my true form… for now, I am stuck like this. But I do not intend to simply accept defeat." Monodramon's legs spread wide, his arms raising to prepare for combat. "If you want your friend… come and take him."

Guilmon started forwards, but Monodramon moved much more quickly and sprang forwards to hammer his claws into the bottom of Guilmon's jaw, sending him sprawling onto his back. Monodramon landed smoothly beside him and shot off across the street, but the attack on Guilmon was like a trigger causing all the rest of the group to spring into action. Hagurumon and Gomamon converged to cut him off, and Elecmon bounded forwards with intent to body slam him. But, in a surprising turn of speed, Monodramon spun around and seized Elecmon by his tails as he passed, heaving him up and over his head to slam him down into the ground.

"HEY! GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Impmon shouted, leaping into the air and hurling the largest Bada Boom he could muster at Monodramon's head. Monodramon leapt up, using his wing-like arms to glide away. Renamon somersaulted in towards him but was forced to turn aside when Monodramon sent another shadowy blade from one wing at her, before rolling and pouncing right on top of Gomamon.

 **"CRACKING BITE!"** he shouted as he and Gomamon went rolling away, sinking his teeth into Gomamon's flipper. Gomamon screamed, but Terriermon and Lopmon both seized Monodramon from behind and heaved backwards, pulling him up and into the air. Monodramon's response was to hammer Terriermon in the stomach with his claws and wrench free of Lopmon's grip when Terriermon let go.

This time though, Renamon was there to swing her foot straight into Monodramon's gut in mid-air, powering him down towards the ground with enough force to shatter the tarmac.

"Don't hurt him!" Ryo cried, more distraught than he'd been since Parallelmon had made several of his friends disappear. "Monodramon's still in there somewhere!"

Renamon hesitated, which was all the opportunity that Monodramon needed to get back up and charge down the road again. Impmon got in his way but Monodramon rammed into him and tossed him aside, leaping up to rebound off Hagurumon's face and collide with Elecmon as the latter tried to prepare another attack. Monodramon's teeth closed around Elecmon's ear, but even as Elecmon yelled in pain, he was able to channel electricity through his own fur to zap Monodramon loose. Moments later, Guilmon's tail came arcing in to smack Monodramon away like a cricket ball.

"That's enough!"

Suddenly Monodramon stopped in mid-air before he could hit the ground, just floating there above the road. He kicked and bucked his body about for a few moments, but it quickly became apparent that he wasn't going anywhere. Namely, because Aayla was walking towards him with her hand outstretched, holding him still with the Force. Quickly Monodramon was surrounded by the other Digimon, Renamon seizing his arms and hauling them behind his back so he couldn't use his Shadow Wing technique.

"Ah yes, the alien," Monodramon said with a chuckle, apparently unconcerned with his sudden captivity as he leered at Aayla. "I do have to thank you very much indeed."

"Thank me for what?" Aayla asked.

"For opening my eyes. Look at you… a fully sentient being neither human nor Digital. I knew that the Omniverse was vast but I freely admit I wasn't even close to realising how much so if creatures like you exist out there. It made me realise how much harder I'll have to work when I tear it all apart."

There was no growling warning in Monodramon's tone - he just stated it matter-of-factly, as if it was inevitable.

But before Aayla could enquire any further, she was interrupted by the police chief.

"What… the hell… is going on?" he asked. "Our very first unified effort with these Digimon and one of them goes rogue? Is that what I'm seeing?"

"Forgive us, Chief," Aayla said. "This is a very unexpected turn of events. For all of us. I think… it might be best if we all leave for now and let the Tamers talk this over first. There are a lot of questions that need answering."

"A heck of a lot," Rika agreed, all the Tamers looking to Ryo, who was just staring at his smirking Digimon as if he was in the middle of a heart attack.

"This can't be happening," he whispered to himself. "This has to be another nightmare."

"Welcome to reality, my partner," Monodramon laughed. "A very bittersweet reality indeed."

* * *

An hour later, and the Tamers and Digimon had congregated at the HYPNOS towers, including Ai and Mako because Impmon had gone back to pull them out of school for this emergency meeting.

Monodramon had been sealed inside a large glass cage that HYPNOS had built, just in case the day ever came where they needed to hold a Digimon against their will. It was designed to withstand the blast of most Ultimate-level Digimon, though they hadn't had the opportunity to test it out on anything that powerful yet. But it was strong enough to contain a Rookie. Even a strong one like Monodramon.

The little dragon made no attempt to escape. He just sat in the middle of the floor with his eyes closed and did nothing more.

Everyone else was gathered outside the box. Renamon, Gomamon and Elecmon had been checked over for injury after being bitten by Monodramon, but it appeared that none of them had sustained any lasting damage. Digimon were tough creatures after all. And now, everyone was looking to Ryo expectantly waiting for him to begin.

Ryo didn't look like he wanted to talk though. He'd been sitting in a chair with his head in his hands for the last half hour and until Ai and Mako arrived everyone had left him that way, unsure how to console him.

But now, as Rika so eloquently put it, "Okay Ryo, spill! You know what's going on here so stop feeling sorry for yourself and tell us."

"Monodramon wasn't making any sense back there," Takato agreed. "Talking about Millenniummon and… Machinedramon and Ken… it's all just so weird."

"No…" Ryo sighed, running his hand over his face. "It's not."

"Ryo, look," Henry said. "Obviously whatever this is has you majorly stressed out. But you've got to let us know what we're up against. Only then can we figure out what to do next… and maybe we can help get Monodramon back."

Ryo took a deep breath, running his thumbs over each other before finally sitting up straight. "I should have told all of you this a long time ago," he said. "I should have owned up to it… but it was just so nice to have friends… good friends. Proper friends who didn't know anything about all this. I just didn't want to lose that… I hoped I'd never need to tell you. But now all this has happened… I've got no choice. I have to come clean."

"Just take it one step at a time, Ryo," Renamon said. "Just who is Millenniummon."

Ryo's jaw quirked into a sad smile. "I think it would be best to tell you first who I really am."

"Eh?" Kazu blinked. "Who you are? You're Ryo Akiyama."

"That's true, I am. But… I am also not from this dimension."

"…Say wha…?" Impmon said what every one of them was thinking.

"I was born in another world," Ryo said. "On an entirely different version of Earth. The Earth… of the Digi-Destined."


	7. Ryo's Story

**Furno:- Thanks, it's good to be back. But to answer your questions - I have considered a crossover with Marvel, but nothing is set in stone yet. Also, I will not be doing a crossover with Hunters - only Xros Wars. I cannot stand Hunters. It was an awful follow-up to what I felt was an incredible season, so I will be ignoring it's existence. And I also don't like the Fusion dub, hence why I am going with the original name. I am also not a fan of Frontier. I do like Data Squad, but it is unlikely I will do a crossover with it. For the most part I really enjoyed the final arc of Fairy Tail, but yes I would re-write it in a crossover because I would want to use it's villains and I always make my crossover stories go differently than canon, or what's the point in writing them? No, I do not watch Naruto or One Piece and have no plans on including them, nor will I ever. I have read Bleach, but it didn't really appeal to me. And my franchise does not have a name as of yet. I may give it one later, but as of now it is nameless.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 7:- RYO'S STORY**

* * *

"The Digi… destined?" Predictably it was Takato who was first to speak. "As in… the…?"

"The same group that consists of Tai Kamiya, Matt Ishida, Davis Motomiya and all the rest of the characters from the TV show?" Ryo said and, despite everything, there was just a splinter of amusement in his voice. "Yes, that's exactly who I mean."

"But that's crazy," Henry frowned. "They're fictional characters. They can't possibly be real."

"Isn't that exactly what you first thought about Digimon themselves before you learned they were real," Ryo said pointedly. Henry opened his mouth to answer, then closed it again… he had no real way to contest that.

"We of all people should know what it's possible to find in other universes, Henry," Terriermon said. "Still, even this is hard to believe."

"It was very surreal for me when I first came to this world," Ryo said. "To have a TV show based on the exploits of people I knew, people I'd met."

"You've MET them!?" Takato cried, a distant shine in his eyes that was the clear warning signs of him going into full-blown fanboy mode.

"Of course I met them," Ryo said. "I'm actually in the TV show myself once. You know that kid that's wandering through the Digital World with Ken during his backstory episode? When he was younger?"

"That's… that's you…!?"

"Yeah, it's me. To be honest, I was always wondering if anybody would comment that I looked similar to that guy."

"Oh… oh my gosh… oh, this is so huge…!" Kazu looked on the verge of joining Takato in his hyperventilation. "I thought you were cool before, Ryo, but now…!"

"Do you think there's a chance we'll ever get to meet them too!?" Kenta was hopping on the balls of his feet. "Do you believe that we'll actually get a chance to see WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon and…"

"Focus!" Rika snapped. "Let's stay on topic here, shall we? You can nerd out about all this later!"

"She's right," Jeri agreed. "But… if you're from that world Ryo, then… why are you in this one now?"

"Long story… but I need to start at the beginning. You need to know who Millenniummon is now," Ryo's face tightened. "Damn… I hoped this day would never come."

"Well it's here now, so tell us. Who's this weirdo talking out of Monodramon's mouth?" Impmon asked.

"He said he was… Machinedramon?" Takato asked. "As in… I can't believe I'm saying this… as in the same one that WarGreymon cut to pieces?"

"The very same," Ryo nodded. "Except that unlike the rest of the Dark Masters, Machinedramon did not die that day. He was mortally wounded, his data scattered, but not dead. Machinedramon is a compilation Digimon, his body constructed of different parts from many different cyborg Digimon and reprogrammed to all operate together under a single consciousness. That programming goes right down to the atomic level, which is why Machinedramon was left alive even after he'd disintegrated."

"…Damn… that's hardcore…" Terriermon breathed.

"And… he was able to digivolve somehow into a higher form?" Jeri guessed. "Into this Millenniummon?"

"Yes, but with help," Ryo said sadly. "Help from the last of Apocalymon's creations left standing. A Kimeramon."

"Huh!? Kimeramon?" Kazu gaped. "But that's the Digimon that Ken created in the second season!"

"He created the second Kimeramon," Ryo sighed. "And I suspect he modelled his creation after a buried memory because he was there when I met the first Kimeramon. But you see, the two Kimeramon were made differently. The one that Ken made was made entirely from scratch, from duplicating the data of the different Digimon that made up its body. But the first one… that one was made very by Apocalymon in a far more barbaric way. Because he actually captured the Digimon in question… and butchered them. He literally merged their data and used their body parts to put Kimeramon together."

An ashen silence fell over the group. Ai and Mako both looked like they were about to be sick… and most of the others also looked ill too.

"…Why?" Elecmon finally asked. "Why did he do that?"

"He wanted subjects. Loyal ones that would plunge the Digital World into a world of darkness that would make everyone just as miserable as him," Ryo ran a hand over his face. "But the thing is, Kimeramon was just a prototype for Machinedramon. Both of them were made from the data of multiple Digimon, but there was a big difference between them. While Machinedramon was a single entity with one consciousness, Kimeramon had a massive case of schizophrenia. Every one of the tortured Digimon that made up his body was still alive inside him. It made him completely insane, a flaw that Apocalymon was able to remove when he made Machinedramon later."

"Oh God," Kenta whined.

"I always knew Apocalymon was sick and twisted… but that…?" Takato swallowed. "That's just wrong on so many levels."

"Pretty much," Ryo nodded. "And that's why Kimeramon never tried to kill the Digi-Destined like the rest of Apocalymon's creations. He was a raving lunatic, completely without direction or purpose and Apocalymon just abandoned him. But after Machinedramon found him… well… he found a use for him. The two of them DNA Digivolved into one single being… and that being is Millenniummon."

"A mix of Machinedramon and Kimeramon," Henry whispered. "Like how WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon together make Omnimon."

"Exactly. And Millenniummon gained a perfect mix of the two personalities. The wild Kimeramon side of him obtained clarity, ruthlessness and the ability to focus and drive for a single goal from Machinedramon. And the Machinedramon side of him gained emotion and capacity to feel from Kimeramon. Which means, Millenniummon is no longer schizophrenic but is still utterly mad, but now he's got an objective. He knows what he wants to do. And what he wants to have. And what he wants more than anything… is me."

"…Why?" Rika asked sceptically. "What's so special about you that some off-the-rails Digimon would want you so badly?"

"That's… the really twisted part," Ryo inhaled slowly, clearly gearing himself up just to spit the next part out. But eventually, he said, "You know how the second season of Digimon Adventure revealed that there were Digi-Destined all over the world?"

"Yeah," Takato nodded. "I always thought that was kinda random. The first season was very careful to set up that there were only eight chosen children total and suddenly there were loads. I didn't get that at all. It felt like a retcon."

"Well, there is an explanation, though the show never actually went into it. The thing is, the program who made the Digivices and Crests, Homeostasis, and it's subordinates never intended for there to be just eight chosen children…"

"Wait, wait… Homeo-what-now?" Takato asked.

"Homeostasis. That's the name of the being that possesses Kari to explain why the Digi-Destined were made. And the being responsible for making the Digi-Destined in the first place. Anyway, Homeostasis and its subjects were always hoping that there would be Digi-Destined from all over the world. Thousands of them. I mean, think about it - it makes far more sense to bring an army than just eight. They made all the Digivices at the same time and linked them all up to the Digimon partners right at the start of the campaign. But, as the show demonstrated, the Dark Masters interfered with the plan. A lot."

"There was that scene where Piedmon tried to steal the Digivices and the Crests from Tai and the others and Gennai stopped him," Kazu said.

"That was only one confrontation of many that the Dark Masters had with them. The last one, in fact. In all the others, they succeeded in their goal, stealing the eggs and the Digivices. In the end, the eight Chosen Children from the show were the only ones who had crests made for them in time, and even then they were almost lost. The Dark Masters stashed all the other stolen eggs and Digivices away, and Gennai recovered them and distributed them to their rightful owners after the Dark Masters and Apocalymon were defeated."

"Whoa… that actually makes sense," Takato breathed. "I can't believe I never thought of that."

"This is all very fascinating," Henry said, with a hand on his chin. "But what does that have to do with you?"

Ryo's smile was nothing but pained. "Because, Henry… I'm a Digi-Destined too. But like the eight original Digi-Destined, my partner was spirited away from the Dark Masters. In fact, you could compare my partner to Gatomon. The egg was lost, separated from its Digivice and it hatched by itself. And like Gatomon he wandered the Digital World, waiting for me."

"…Oh God," Henry whispered. He'd guessed where this was going.

"Yeah," Ryo nodded. "Gatomon was found by Myotismon… but my partner was found by Apocalymon."

"…No…" Jeri had her hands over her mouth.

"Wait… you mean…?" Suzie was still catching up but even she was close to realising what most of the others had already got.

"He was an Airdramon," said Ryo. "And he was pulled apart by Apocalymon and fused into Kimeramon. And then he, in turn, became a part of Millenniummon. Which means… Millenniummon is… my partner."

The horrified silence that followed was broken only by Jeri trying not to sob. Every human, every Digimon, Aayla… not one of them could think of a thing to say to that. Ryo could only stare at the floor. He felt every single second of that silence stretching on for what seemed like forever. He was waiting for someone to say they were sorry, but nobody did. And he was glad of that. It would have just felt hollow and feeble.

"But…" Takato said eventually. "Isn't the Airdramon part of him only a tiny part? There must be data from at least twenty different Digimon crammed together inside him."

"One little part is enough. A natural DNA Digivolution merges all the participants into a single being. A single consciousness. Not like the DNA Digivolutions of the Digi-Destined. In those digivolutions, the two entities involved were kept separate by the two Digivices. My original partner may have been just an Airdramon… but he became Millenniummon."

"If all of that is true… how the heck did he end up inside Monodramon?" Impmon asked.

"Well… I'll try to keep that story as short as I can," Ryo twiddled his thumbs awkwardly. "Basically, after Apocalymon's defeat, Millenniummon rose up to take his place as the most prominent menace to the Digital World. And he was a massive threat, capable of warping space itself. Naturally, when Gennai discovered I was his partner, I was called in to help the original Digi-Destined fight against him. We defeated him, and it was after that when the Digi-Destined gave up their crests to release the Four Harmonious Ones from their prisons…"

"Azulongmon and the others you mean?" Kenta prompted.

"They're the ones. The Harmonious Ones of the Digi-Destined's Digital World are exactly the same as the Sovereign in ours. It's quite an amazing coincidence."

"I wonder if their Zhuqiaomon is just as crabby," Terriermon muttered. Lopmon nudged him, both to show respect to the Sovereign and to let Ryo continue.

"Anyway, it turned out Millenniummon wasn't as dead as we thought so I was dragged back to the Digital World yet again, except this time my friend Ken Ichijouji was hauled along with me. That was when Ken met Wormmon for the first time. And since we couldn't rely on help from the original Digi-Destined now that their partners could no longer digivolve past the Champion level, Ken and I teamed up with the Harmonious Ones to beat him, and again we did. But this time as he disappeared he tried to infect me with a Dark Spore… and Ken pushed me out of the way and took it himself."

"And that's how he became the Digimon Emperor," Kazu nodded.

"I had no idea how bad the Dark Spore's effect on him would be," Ryo said despondently. "It made him ill, and I tried to look after him, but Millenniummon just kept coming back. He wouldn't stay down, and I had to keep returning to the Digital World to help the Harmonious Ones deal with him. And not only that, but Millenniummon found ways to digivolve to even higher forms. First MoonMillenniummon, who we were just barely able to beat. And then… ZeedMillenniummon. A dragon Digimon of pure chaos and frankly unimaginable power. A Digimon that not even the Harmonious Ones, or the Sovereigns, at their full power could defeat."

"Seriously?" Jeri breathed. "That strong?"

"I have yet to encounter a more powerful Digimon," Ryo said gravely. "And ZeedMillenniummon gained another ability - the ability to travel across space through different dimensions. He was easily able to push past the Harmonious Ones and abduct me, taking me through space to an entirely different Digital World… our Digital World. To this day I still don't really know why he brought me here. He said he wanted to show me something, but I was able to break free."

"How?" Guilmon asked. "If he's that powerful, how did you escape?"

"I'm not one-hundred percent sure. It just seemed to… happen. But I suspect the work of a Digi-Gnome. It's the only possible explanation as to how one minute I was being held in ZeedMillenniummon's claws and the next, poof, halfway across the Digital World away from him."

"Could have been a Data Stream," suggested Kazu.

"If it had been that he probably would have been taken with me. But that doesn't matter. What's important is I got away, but I was stuck in a strange Digital World with no way back home. And that is when I finally met Monodramon. I may be from a different human world, but Monodramon's a native Digimon. And he tagged along with me to try and help me take ZeedMillenniummon down. He was hopelessly out of his league, but he was determined to try."

Ryo smiled fondly as he leaned back in the chair. "Monodramon was exactly what a partner should be. What I'd seen from Agumon and Wormmon and all the rest. He was brave; he was loyal; he was a true form. He was what I imagined Airdramon might have been like if only we'd had the opportunity to get to know each other properly. And… well… I made a wish. A wish that ended up being granted."

"Monodramon became your partner," Henry surmised.

"I guess the Digi-Gnome that granted the wish put Shibumi's algorithm into my Digivice directly," Ryo said, pulling his D-Arc from his pocket and staring at it. "It morphed right there in my hand from its original shape to become what it is now. And immediately it linked up with Monodramon and suddenly I had two Digimon partners. I was a Digi-Destined with Millenniummon and a Tamer with Monodramon.

"And I think that was why the final battle between ZeedMillenniummon and us went the way it did. There was no chance we could beat him in a fight. He was far too powerful. And in the end, it wasn't me that beat him. Monodramon came up with the idea all on his own and executed it without telling me what he was going to do. But he was able to use the connection between them through their shared Digivice to force himself to DNA Digivolve with ZeedMillenniummon."

"He actually absorbed him deliberately?" Renamon said, her eyes uncharacteristically wide.

"Yeah," Ryo nodded. "I don't think it would have worked if they hadn't been partially linked already through the D-Arc. But it did work and, just like with the Digi-Destined's DNA Digivolutions it created two minds in one body instead of merging them completely. But Monodramon was able to take advantage of ZeedMillenniummon's shock to smother his consciousness, forcing him into a deep hibernation inside him and keeping him there even as they both regressed right down to a Digi-Egg on the floor in front of me."

"I've never heard of a DNA Digivolution like that," Rika whispered.

"Nor have I. I think it was a one-of-a-kind thing because Monodramon didn't take on any of ZeedMillenniummon's traits… except one. His savagery. I'm pretty sure that Cyberdramon wouldn't be nearly as brutal a Digimon as he is if ZeedMillenniummon weren't inside him. It's like a little of ZeedMillenniummon seeps into him whenever he smells a challenge. But ever since then, there hasn't been a peep out of Millenniummon or any sign that he might be waking up at all."

"Until now," Aayla finished.

"Until now," Ryo agreed, looking over at Monodramon sadly. The purple dragon might as well have been asleep. There was no way a casual observer could guess just how much menace and evil now surged within that little body."

"But then if you're from the world of the Digi-Destined," Jeri suddenly asked. "How can you live here now in our human world? How did you get your parents here?"

"I decided against going back to my world after Monodramon became Cyberdramon for the first time," Ryo explained. "He was constantly seeking out enemies and battles, so I felt this Digital World would be better suited for him since Digimon were always fighting each other in it, as opposed to the one back home where most Digimon got along. But I was pretty shocked when I learned that my parents were in this human world."

"So you had nothing to do with that?" Henry asked.

"I'll be honest," Ryo said thinly. "I'm not even sure if they're my real parents."

"What do you mean?" Rika frowned.

"I don't really know how I managed to get to this Human World for the first time. But, like all the Digimon that bio-emerge here, I did. And yet, although this was a completely different human world to the one I was born in, everyone in my old neighbourhood knew who I was. My parents were there. Many of my old friends were there. But there was no other Ryo Akiyama. I was the only one."

"That's so weird…" Takato breathed.

"Yeah. I don't know for sure, but I think Millenniummon may have been behind that," said Ryo. "I think there may have been another Ryo, a parallel Ryo, here before me and Millenniummon used his dimensional powers to send him to my world to take my place. It's the only explanation I've been able to come up with. But I have absolutely no idea whether he also switched my parents between worlds. For all I know, I could be living with a different Ryo Akiyama's mum and dad."

"Holy crap," Kenta murmured. "I can't even imagine what that must be like, coming home to that. Not knowing what happened… not knowing who your parents even are."

"It was rough," Ryo nodded. "But I had no choice but to roll with it. I settled down and I dedicated myself to being the best Tamer I could be. And I saw the Digimon TV series. I don't know why all of my story was left out, but I suspect part of the reason behind that was that unlike the rest of its characters I was a real person in this world too. I went looking to see if there was another Tai, another Ken, another anyone… but there wasn't. I was the only one with a parallel version of me here."

"It's so weird though… that the TV show was able to capture the adventures of these actual real people from another world so perfectly," Takato marvelled.

"Not so weird," Henry tapped his lip. "If the world of the Digi-Destined is parallel and intimately connected to our own, it's possible that the idea for the TV show crossed the barrier between our worlds on some subconscious wavelength where the writers thought they were making up stories that were in fact real. Or maybe there are just so many different universes out there in the cosmos that literally every fictional book, TV show and movie ever invented actually happened somewhere out there."

"So the characters from Naruto or Death Note or Harry Potter could be real out there in the universe too?" Terriermon snickered.

Henry nodded. "It's very possible. Heck, there could even be a TV show about us somewhere out there in the Omniverse."

"Maybe," Ryo agreed. "But the point is my role was reduced to cameos for some reason, and I was very grateful for that. But I worked hard. I became good enough at the card game to be given the title of the Digimon King. And I was relieved beyond measure when Monodramon hatched and I saw no signs of Millenniummon inside him. But then when he digivolved to Cyberdramon for the first time and I found it so hard to control him, I decided to go right back to the Digital World where he could do less harm. And after months there, that's when I met you guys and the rest you all know full well."

"You should have told us all about this Ryo," Rika folded her arms. "We had the right to know."

"What would you have done if I had told you Rika?" Ryo suddenly glared at her. "If I had said that a dangerous, maniacal beast capable of destroying the world was sleeping inside my partner? What exactly would you have done if you'd known about that?"

"…I don't know," Rika conceded, looking about at the others who all looked equally uncomfortable at that question. "But… still… you should have told us all the same."

"Ugh… I know. I know I should have. But like I said, I hoped I would never need to burden you guys with all this. I hoped it would never be needed."

"The real question is, what do we do now?" Renamon reasoned. "How do we get Monodramon back?"

Ryo looked up at his partner and baulked a little when he saw his eyes were now open. The two of them made eye contact, staring at each other in total silence. But the edge of Monodramon's beak just curved it's way upwards into a smirk.

A smirk that filled Ryo's head with images of the titanic jaws and horned head of Millenniummon wearing that exact same expression.

"I have no idea."


	8. Gogglehead

**Furno:- 1. DNA Digivolution involves only two Digimon and unless they have a Digivice to keep them separate they are permanently joined, DigiXrosing can involve any number of Digimon and can only achieved with a Xros Loader, whereas DNA Digivolution can occur naturally.**

 **2\. I have no plans to, no.**

 **3\. No, I will not assign levels to the Xros Wars Digimon - they have no levels in their official canon and I found it a very refreshing new take on the Digimon franchise, so I will not give them any in my stories either.**

 **If you're going to keep asking me questions, can you please get an account and PM me? It's very inconvenient to answer them here.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 8:- GOGGLEHEAD**

* * *

"Of all times, why did this have to happen now?" Yamaki flipped his lighter with obvious agitation - something he hadn't done in quite a while. "It's bad enough that this happened at all, but less than a week before we're supposed to be going public? The timing couldn't be worse."

"Is there anything you can do at all?" Ryo implored the Monster Makers, who had been gathered at top speed. "Something to… I dunno… force Millenniummon's consciousness back into hibernation?"

"Well… I won't say that it's impossible, Ryo," Janyu wrung his hands. "But we'd be wading into unchartered waters. I don't know where we'd begin with a request like that."

"Yeah, but you could figure it out surely," said Takato. "You guys are the Monster Makers. You created Digimon. You made Grani. You built an actual portal machine using data you analysed from GranKuwagamon. Surely there's something you can do for Monodramon."

"Well, I have a few theories… a few ideas we could try," Shibumi was stroking his beard thoughtfully. "If we consider the Millenniummon side of Monodramon to be like a computer virus, perhaps we could install a program into his body that will purge him from the system. Or at the very least, construct a firewall to keep that part of him contained. But the tricky part is getting any of that done while Millenniummon is in control. It would be like trying to make everything in the computer, including the power, shut down except for a single word processor."

"Hey, we're not saying we're not going to try," Babel quickly interjected at Ryo's downcast expression. "We'll work our butts off to get this under control if we have to. But it's unlikely we'll be able to sort out anything overnight."

"What are the odds that Millenniummon will be able to re-assume his own form?" Daisy asked. "Last thing we need is a monster trying to tear down the walls while we work to cure him."

"If Millenniummon reassumed his true form he'd vaporise the building," Ryo said dryly. "But I don't think it's likely. If he could have retaken his true shape and re-attained his power, he would have done so already."

"So what's stopping him?" Lopmon asked.

"He probably doesn't have enough digital energy," Shibumi reasoned. "He's in the Real World right now. If he'd woken up in the Digital World, I believe he would have downloaded the data from everything around him and reshaped it into his original body. But he can't do that here. It's like trying to load something new onto a USB drive without plugging it in. It just won't work."

"Well that's a plus," Jeri said brightly. "At least we only have to deal with Monodramon's level of power, not Millenniummon's own."

"Trust me, that's more than just a plus," Ryo said in relief. "So, you guys will try?"

"We will do our best," Janyu promised. "If there's a way, we'll find it."

"It seems the threat is pretty well contained as long as Millenniummon can't get to the Digital World," Henry mused.

"But I think we should still take precautions," Takato said, pumping his fist with a surprising amount of energy. "Aayla, you still have that communication link to the Sovereigns, right?"

"Right here," Aayla pulled a small holoprojector off her belt. It had been there for over a year now, completely unused. "Are you asking me to use it?"

"Yeah," Takato nodded. "I think we should call Azulongmon and tell him to keep all our Digimon allies on standby, just in case. If ZeedMillenniummon is really as powerful as Ryo says, we shouldn't take any chances. And we should also have at least two Tamers and their Digimon guarding Monodramon at all times, to make sure he doesn't try and pull any funny stuff while nobody's looking."

"Whoa, what got into you, Chumley?" Kazu raised a brow. "You look pumped. Did your parents announce you were having an early Christmas this year or something?"

"I just think we should be taking this seriously. Being Tamers is like… our official jobs now. We have to do this right."

"Oh dear. It's just like when he wanted to patrol the city looking for the Devas," Rika rolled her eyes. "Please tell me you don't have another flag in the works."

"Well, thinking about it…"

"No. Flag. Gogglehead."

"Fine, fine. But seriously, we should have guards."

"Well, any excuse to skip school is fine by me," Kazu snorted.

"Does that mean you're volunteering for the first watch?" Guilmon asked innocently.

"Er…"

"Of course it does," Hagurumon declared. "We will proudly stand vigilant and watch Monodramon like orcs!"

"Hawks, Hagurumon… hawks… but yeah fine, sure. I'll do it. Just as long as I don't have to do it tonight."

"Terriermon and I will watch this evening," Henry suggested. "Dad will probably be here anyway so it should be fine."

"Great!" Takato said. "Oh, oh and we should have a secret word for when we're discussing Monodramon or Millenniummon in school. So that the others in the class don't know something's up and get worried. Any suggestions?"

"How about just Millennium?"

"Aaaw, that's no fun Kenta. We need to be more imaginative than that."

"Jeez, what's up with Takato?" Terriermon wondered aloud. "I haven't seen him this enthusiastic for something potentially dangerous since forever?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

The voice made everyone freeze in their tracks and turn slowly to look towards Monodramon, who was now standing just on the other side of the glass and leering out the collected group.

"It should be easy to see why Takato's acting so driven," Monodramon… or rather Millenniummon… snorted. "It's because he wants this to be a good story he can tell to Tai Kamiya if they ever meet."

"What? No, it's not!" Takato protested.

"Please," Millenniummon sniggered. "I see right through you. I have all of Monodramon's memories… I know every one of you. And you Takato, you practically hero worship Tai. You designed Guilmon to be a dinosaur, just like Agumon. You only took up wearing those goggles after you got a Digimon, just as a little tribute to your idol. And now you know he's real, you want to be sure that you can impress him. It's funny really, how you never thought of yourself as a leader before but now… now that you know Tai is real… how long is it going to be before he starts to try bossing the rest of you around, I wonder?"

Takato's face was burning, and he desperately searched for a comeback, but he seemed completely unable to find one.

"If anything, I bet you're hoping that when the time comes, you'll be the one to lay the finishing blow against me," Millenniummon continued. "Tai and WarGreymon defeated me as Machinedramon. Davis beat the other Kimeramon. Now you want to be the Gogglehead that can finish them both, don't you?"

"Well… you always get defeated," Takato blustered. "Every time! And this time it's going to be permanent! You'll see?"

"It's quite cute how you think you can prepare against me, honestly," Millenniummon turned and strutted away. "But no matter how much people think they are ready for me, they always fall short. I always find a way to counter you. Even on the brink of defeat I always claw my way back. And this time will be no different. I predict no more than three days before I am free from this box. And then… I will leave none of you alive except Ryo. The rest of you aren't needed in the future I have in mind."

The following silence felt like a heavy weight nestled over the group. But Ryo found the strength to get up and grip Takato's shoulder firmly.

"Don't listen to him, man," he said. "He always did know exactly the right thing to say to get under your skin.

"…He's right though," Takato bit his lip a little guiltily. "How pathetic does that make me…? That on the off chance I ever meet the real Tai Kamiya, all I want to do is impress him. What sort of hopeless fan does that make, right?"

"Takato. Tai would be incredibly impressed with you, whether you were the leader or not," Ryo said firmly. "Take it from someone who's met the both of you; he would."

"Thanks," Takato beamed. "But still… that's no excuse just to give orders and expect them to be followed."

"Well then I have a handy solution to that problem," Ryo offered Takato a tight smile. "I say, at least for now, we make Takato our official leader."

"Eh?" Takato blinked.

"Really? You're just going to nominate him like that?" Henry said, surprised.

"I always thought we functioned pretty well without a proper leader," Rika agreed.

"We do, but… look, it's important that we don't let Millenniummon get to us. He's very good at causing rifts between friends," Ryo said. "After what he just said, if Takato keeps pressing his ideas it might not be long before the rest of us start resenting for him. Or Takato could lose confidence and stop suggesting things entirely. Either way, Millenniummon gains an advantage, and we can't let that happen. So let's shove both those possibilities into the garbage by making Takato our leader. Besides, even if Millenniummon's words weren't a factor, I think Takato could be a great leader."

"Well I can't argue with that," Henry said. "Takato always has been front and centre when it comes to Digimon-related issues."

"I guess," Kazu mused. "I mean I can still kick his ass at the card game, but I suppose, thinking about it, he is good at making the right calls."

"I agree. Takato would be a great leader," Jeri smiled warmly, making Takato blush rather forcefully.

"There could be worse leaders I guess," Rika chuckled. "Looks like the Gogglehead is in."

"Wow, thanks, guys," Takato looked around at the group with a broad albeit embarrassed smile. "I don't know what to say."

"Don't say anything, Takatomon," Guilmon bopped his own chest with his claws proudly. "Just do your new job. You're going to be great."

"Of course this probably means you'll have the be the one to do most of the talking with the reporters and answer to the police for any damages we do," Terriermon laughed as he watched Takato's face pale a little at that. "Who knows, I might rack up the damage bill a bit more just to see you squirm."

"Terriermon…"

"What? Jeez, Henry, you know I was kidding."

"Yes, because you're completely unable to do anything else, aren't you?" Renamon grumbled. "You really should grow up."

Terriermon's jaw dropped. It had been a long time since Renamon had been frustrated by his antics or his jokes. Never once had she given him more than a polite reminder that perhaps he was doing it at the wrong time since they'd been mated.

"Whoa, Rena," he breathed. "Where did that come from?"

"I… don't know," Renamon rubbed her head. "I'm sorry, Terriermon, I suppose I am just a little perturbed by all this. But this is a pretty serious discussion, so perhaps it would be best not to undermine Takato's confidence straight away."

"Yeah… yeah, okay. Sorry."

"Well, anyway, it's settled," said Jeri firmly. "Takato is our leader."

"Then… as leader… I guess we should all go back to our regular lives for now… except for you guys if you're taking the first guard duty," he nodded at Kazu and Kenta. "I mean, we don't want to make it seem like something's going on when we're close to having to do those interviews, do we?"

"And if Monodramon isn't back in control of his body then?" Ryo pressed.

"Then we'll just have to pretend you're ill or something and reschedule the interview for when he is I suppose."

"Sounds fair enough," Henry nodded. "I guess this means back to school."

"Just in time for last period," Rika grunted.

But, as the majority of the group made to leave, Millenniummon raised his voice again. "Good luck focusing on your studies instead of worrying about me. And what I will do when I get loose."


End file.
